Unsub Unseen
by nooni19
Summary: Not a good title, however... An unsub decides on his newest victim. The team are on the case, but his choice of victim hits closer to home than the team would have thought. Also, I LOVE the characters of both JJ and Emily. There is definitely going to be parts of this story that focus on each of them. ( : As such JJ/Emily friendship with Morgan as the ever watchful big brother.
1. Chapter 1

**So this is my first time writing. I am not AH-MAH-ZING, so criticism is completely understandable and respected. Of course, I don't own anything to do with CM. **

1

Her hair was matted with a thick layer of blood, both hers and his. Fresh blood seeped from the new wounds both surface and from the deep puncture wounds. Her sense of direction was completely gone. Was it from the hours spent gagged and blind-folded, or due to the fact that she could swear every creak and crunch made by the autumn leaves were due to the feet of her captor as he came chasing after her to drag her back to what felt like the depths of hell itself.

It truly wasn't fair, how had her life become so turned around in what only seemed like hours.

One minute she was doing her job. The next she was someone else's prey. So this is what it felt like to be one of the victims she so often came into contact with. Only, that was wrong. She wasn't a victim. A victim was someone that couldn't protect themselves unlike a highly trained FBI Agent. That's what is so wrong about the whole situation. She was not a victim. She couldn't be.

Her breathing was becoming laboured. It was dire that she stopped and rested. Not only was she suffering from exhaustion, but also dehydration. Every step taken, was a step closer to freedom, but also a step closer to unconsciousness. The feeling of dryness at the back of her throat was becoming harder and harder to bare. Her mind was running faster than a heard of cantaloupe away from a cheetah. She wanted to get away. But her body was giving up.

Her mind, ever the fighter told her to hang on, to stay resilient, she could make it. But her body told her no, it was time to rest. Searching relentlessly in her attempts to run to freedom, she came across an opening in the rock.

She had two choices, continue running until the point of passing out and almost certainly return to the icy, maniacal hands of her captor or hide in this crevice, and pray to whatever God was out there that her friends, her family would come and rescue her, tell her she was safe, that everything was okay and he could no longer hurt her.

But luck as of late just hadn't appeared to be on her side. Was it fair? No. Was there anything she could do to change it? No.

As she settled down and allowed herself to start fall into slumber, she decided it would be a good idea to catalogue her injuries.

One probably broken finger, ribs that are incredibly sore, a dislocated, then relocated knee cap, swelling to the left side of the face and now that she was painfully aware of every ache in her body she noticed the state of her feet. Pieces of mutilated skin dangling by only millimetres.

Everything was overwhelming, she had to make it home, there was far too much live for. Thoughts of her family ran through her mind as she felt her mind and body both begin to relax. Sleep was mere moments away.

The sound of footfalls became audible. Faster and closer and louder, until they were metres away. Her breathing became erratic, and she frantically scurried as far into the yellowing shrubbery as possible. Holding a trembling hand to her face in an attempt to keep from being heard, tears silently slipped down a paling face. She could see her breath in front of her as it eked out around the hand that attempted to silence her whimpers.

A hand covered in a black glove slowly began pulling back the fern as black spots made their way into her vision. Her mind began to spin as the man with his usual smile reached out his arms to reclaim her…

**It's short, but tell me if you think it's okay and if I should carry on. J**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey J Thanks to those who reviewed. And to those who thought my writing was worth readingJ A virtual hug is sent your way. I am still getting used to the site and am not entirely confident with the navigation at the moment. So please tell me if I am doing something glaringly wrong. Who knew writing could be so complicated? Also, I am a fan of mystery, so please guess your hearts out. J**

**2**

_In the preceding days…_

*Bring Bring*

She lazily fumbles around with her hand in the dark. Nonchalantly she grabbed for her phone only to hear the devastating sound of it landing on the floor and skidding along the wood. With a quick glance across to the clock on her bedside table, the bold red letters stood out in contrast with the dark of the room around her. 2:47 AM in the morning. 2:47.

In the time it took her to read the time and actually have it sink in, her phone had stopped ringing. She sighed a sigh of relief. Maybe it was just like one of those dreams that mash into your reality, and you wake up to realise you can blissfully return back to the welcoming world of dreams.

She let her head furrow its way back into her pillow, contented to return to dreamland when that blasted ringing started again. No, it was not some dream, it was her stupid phone trying to ruin her life. Maybe ruin her life is a bit of an oversight, but DEFINITELY ruin her ability to get a peaceful night's sleep.

Her hand returned to the table only to realise as if due to some sort of cruel joke, she had been the reason her phone was now somewhere on the contents of her floor. With a half-hearted sigh, she made the dreaded movement from her lovely cosy bed to her cold, harsh unforgiving floor. But no, that wasn't enough was it? Her phone had to be inconveniently place right under her bed, so that not only did she have to leave the warmth, she also had to lie flat on the cold ground, half awake and try with all her might to reach for her phone.

As she knelt on the ground her body protested far more than she had initially thought. She reached with her hand only to come up short. "Arg! Jees, why can't these things ever be frickin' simple?" Then she moved into a position where she was sitting with her long legs crossed, only to unfold one of them and swing it under the bed. YES! She could feel it with her toes. "Come on baby, come to Mama!" All the while the ringing had become more incessant if that was even possible. And louder, definitely louder.

"SCORE" she shouted to no one in particular. Her now cold hands fumbled with the keypad only to answer and then again drop her phone.

"JJ. JJ. Hello, JJ are you there?" A rough and increasingly impatient voice bellowed from the other end of the phone.

Quickly she scampered to her phone for the second time that morning.

"Yes Hotch. I'm here, what's up? Hold on, that's a stupid question isn't it?" She managed to blurt out in between deep breaths as a result of her early morning phone aerobics.

"Yes JJ, Yes it is. But are you okay? You sound out of breath."

"Haha. Yes Hotch, I'm fine. Just had a bit of trouble with jelly fingers. Seems like my brain and my body stopped communicating for a minute. Thought I was going to have to go Hulk on my bed and throw it across my bedroom so that I could actually get a hold of my phone."

"Oh, I see. Well that's god then. JJ, could you call the team? We need them here ASAP. It's not good, and I would like to get them here and get us on the plane as soon as possible."

"Sure thing boss. I'll tell Reid to only make himself one coffee before heading into work rather than the usual twelve he has to start his morning."

"Okay thanks JJ. See you soon." Hotch said smiling at the way JJ could turn a crappy start into something more positive as he hung up the phone and prepared for the early morning briefing.

In the meantime, JJ's fingers were dialling away. First up was Pen. JJ knew she needed the most time to get ready. As she was told one day 'it does NOT take only a few minutes to get THIS beautiful everyday Jayje. Cut a girl some slack.'

The phone started ringing. And kept ringing. And still kept ringing. "What..?!"

"Hey Pen, I am going to take that as an 'I'll see you soon bright and ready for this early morning case?"

"Hmm. Maybe… Did yo…"

JJ knowingly cut her off. "Yes Pen, I called you first. Now you have the most time to get looking beautiful, see you in an hour."

"Yeah, an hour." Pen hung up and JJ started her next call. Emily.

"Hello?"

"Hey Em. Case. See you soon. I'll bring coffee."

"Love you forever."

"Yeah, yeah."

Third call, was Derek.

The phone was ringing….

"Hey baby girl, what's got you calling such a handsome devil like me so early on a fine autumn morning like this one? Booty call?"

"Haha. Yeah right. No, we have a case. And for that you get coffee. I promised Em, and you know if she doesn't get it, she may beat you to a pulp. BAU, one hour."

"Hey hey, that's no…."

He was cut off by her making crackling sounds on her end. "_shhh chhh _oh you're breaking up. Sorry, what was that I can't… gotta go, bye."

Smiling wickedly at her antics she made the move to her 4th call. Ringing…

"Hey we hav…"

"Case. Got it. See you in 30."

"Right, see you Rossi." She always did find Rossi the easiest to call. And he always answered the quickest. It was also a bonus because she had to threaten him to get him to leave his bed.

And last but not least, Geek Boy himself.

Ringing, ringing. JJ sat staring at her nails, noticing that one had a chip out of it. 'Such a shame she thought. They were just starting to look good. I wonder when that happened.'

Her mid nail thoughts were interrupted by Reid answering and beating her to the punch line.

"We have a case?"

"Haha gee. However did you guess? I sup…"

"Well actually, when you look at it statistically speaking, we usually get an early morning wake up call once every 19 and a half days. When you factor in that we have recently been on stand down for a week and that also we prior to that had not had an early morning case in fifteen days, we were actually overdue by two and a half days, and therefore I have been expecting one."

Stumped and wordless as usual JJ only replied "Oh, ah, okay. Reid?"

"Yes?"

"Only one coffee this morning okay. You are already too full of beans. Maybe even make that one a decaf hey?"

"Mmmm. Maybe. See you soon."

"Yeah, you too Reid."

JJ hung up the phone and glanced at her clock. 3:05 AM. Just enough time for a shower and to get dressed, and shove new clothes in her go bag.

She made her way to the bathroom and turned the shower on, then stepped. Quickly she jumped back out as she figured out the water had not heated properly. Once she waited a decent amount of time she hopped back in and lathered herself up with thick soap only to have the warm water wash it all away. Minutes passed as she stood soaking in the warmth. Looking up at her shower clock she mentally chastised herself as she realised that she had wasted half an hour. She was very glad that she didn't wash her hair, because that would take so much extra time to deal with.

JJ turned the shower off and stepped out. She reached for her towel and dried herself off. Realising that she neglected to bring fresh clothes in with her, she stepped off the rug and started making her way towards her wardrobe.

Contemplating whether to wear the maroon or white blouse with her black dress pants, she completely missed it. All too late did she realise there was a nice big puddle of water. She stood in it, only to lose her balance and be propelled forwards, face first out of her adjoining en suite and into that blasted bedside table. Of course, because this morning was going so well already, it had to be her face, technically her forehead that connected with it.

She lay face first on the ground for a moment regaining her bearings only to feel the slight trickle of blood moving down her face. "Crap, now I'm going to be really late."

Hurriedly, she grabbed a flannel and pushed it to her forehead to soak up some of the blood. No longer caring she shoved on her maroon blouse with her pants and shoes, holstered gun, grabbed her keys and go bag and headed for her car. All the while hoping that her forehead wasn't bad and would be missed by her profiler team mates.

**So, heya. This was more of a set up chapter. It is the school holidays at the minute, well for the next week then four weeks of study before two weeks of exams. Drop me a line and tell me what you think. Always appreciated as I am sure it is my most aspiring writers. Also, I am not from, nor have I ever been to the USA. Forgive me, but I am from New Zealand, AKA Down Under, and am probably in one of the furthest places you can be from the USA. Therefore my language and my knowledge of the USA is limited, but please bear with me J I'll probably use some kiwi language like togs, or jandals so just PM me if you don't know what they are. Also, if I make a huge mistake let me know. Thanks! J **


	3. Chapter 3

**So it has come to my attention when re-checking my work after posting that my smiley faces come up as 'J's sometimes. Think of a smiley face ( : instead. Thanks for reviews, you guys rock. **

**3**

"Green. Green. And… green. Green, green, green. Oh for pete's sake! Turn GREEN!"

3:42 AM and still 3 minutes from Quantico, she had no hope of making it there in time as well making it through security and to the BAU floor before the rest of her team. Just freaking perfect.

The light finally flicked to green and she planted her foot. The blood flow had steadied some, and as she caught a glimpse of herself in the rear view mirror she noticed the blood was starting to thicken to form a scab. 'Great' she thought 'Just what I want when I have to stand in front of the press'.

She drove up to the security gate and flashed her ID to get her entrance. Just as she was about to drive off the guard said to her "You alright there? Looks like you have had a bit of a rough morning."

"Oh, you have no idea, but thanks, I'm fine."

He sat staring at the rear of her car as she parked. Then as she hopped out she noticed he was still staring. 'Creepy' she thought to herself. But at she reminded herself 'not every creep is a serial killer.'

Searching the car park she saw that everyone else's vehicles were already there. 'Great, freaking great.' She closed and locked her car door before realising that she had left the blood covered flannel on the front, passenger seat. She couldn't just leave it there, what if she started squirting blood again or what if someone saw it and thought something bad had happened. Placing her go bag on the ground she unlocked her car, placed a knee on the driver's seat, and leant over to get the cloth. Only to have this morning get even better and knock that off the seat with her jelly hand. Quickly she leant further down and fumbled around until... "Aha. Gotcha."

JJ carefully retracted back onto the driver's seat and then made her way out of the car. As she stood back up she felt a tap to her shoulder. She screamed at the fright and turned around with her hand on her gun ready to draw it from its holder, only to see the guard.

"Ma'am do you need any help?"

"No thank you I'm fine."

"Are you sure? Well then, can I at least offer you some assistance for when you return from work? A nice restaurant, the sunset, a bubble bath, you and me relaxing."

At this statement JJ's creep-o-metre was dinging at 100 kilometres an hour. She looked momentarily stunned before looking at his ID badge for his name. As she saw the name 'Jack Creepar' she thought to herself 'How appropriate.'

Quickly she replied "Look I'm sorry, but in my profession I am just too busy for dating. People get annoyed at the hours I work. You seem like a really, um… nice guy… but it wouldn't work. Sorry."

And with that she closed the door, locked her car and she confidently turned her back and made her way to the elevator and pressed the number for the BAU floor. At least she was at work now, she was in the building and it was 3:48 so she wasn't too late. And surely everyone would understand if they knew about Creepy McCreepar hitting on her.

The elevator hummed as it moved up to the correct floor. It seemed to move much faster without so much foot traffic on board to weigh the old clunker down. As the ding announced her arrival the doors opened to a desolate Bull pen. She looked up to the other side of the cat walk and further, to the conference room and saw the light was on. She hoofed it along the cat walk to the entrance of the conference. Upon arriving at the door, she breezed in like a southerly wind to see the faces of her tired and impatient looking team mates.

"Hey guys, sorry I'm late, it was a, uh, bad morning."

Upon looking back up from placing her go bag on the ground she saw the faces of her friends soften and then look concerned.

Rossi was the first to speak "Kid, you look like crap on legs. What happened to you?"

She earnestly replied "Nothing I'm fine."

It was then Emily's turn to butt in "Sweetie, you have blood pooling on your forehead from what looks like a nasty gash, and you have blood trickling down your face. What happened?"

Reacting she moved a hand to her head to pull it away and realise her hand was dripping and covered in blood. "Shit. I, uh, I hopped out of the shower and slipped. My face connected with the bedside table and this was the result. I swear it had stopped bleeding."

Hotch in his stoic leader voice responded "JJ, will you be okay? You may have a concussion, and that looks nasty. We should probably get you checked out at a hospital."

Before JJ could respond with her answer Reid spoke "Actually, I am inclined to agree with Hotch. I am no MD, however, I have read my share of medical books. Also, as a hazard of this job…" He said as he made his way to kneel in front of the now sitting JJ. He removed her hand from her face and inspected the wound. "… I have seen my fair share of cuts and abrasions. I have seen shallower cuts need stitches, therefore I think it is imperative that JJ receive the correct medical treatment."

Again, JJ was cut off before she could speak. "He's right girl, you need to get that looked at. I am sure my chocolate Adonis would have no problem escorting you to make sure you get it done."

"I'm honestly fi…"

"JJ, as this unit chief and your boss, I am telling you, you must go to a Doctor and get that checked. I understand that you may not necessarily agree. However, I am looking out for your best interests. I know what you are going to say, and I will concede, you can get treatment upon arrival at the location of our unsub's hunting ground. But, you are not to drive. And as Garcia has thoughtfully volunteered Morgan for the mission, he will escort you to and from the hospital. Is that understood?"

JJ looked up slightly annoyed at her unit chief. However that feeling soon dissipated as she saw only care and concern momentarily flick across his usually stoic features.

"Yes Sir, thank you." Was her only response.

Reid quickly announced "and make sure that as soon as we get there you go straight to the ER. After six hours they have to wait another 48 due to risk of infection before they can close the wound." He then looked pointedly at JJ "And you don't want us hovering over you for two full days making sure that you are okay, right?"

"Uh, yeah, sure. Whatever you say boy genius."

Following the loving spiel about why JJ needed to take care of herself, the team continued on with the case briefing.

Hotch stood at the front and Garcia divvied out the files.

"Everyone, this is a tough one. This unsub appears to have started attacking two months ago at the beginning of September. His preference of victim are all varied, however the common ground is that they are all women, with slightly varying, yet similar features."

Silence.

"And there have been a couple of children in the mix. He has had six victims, and he still has his seventh. The first of which was Joy Cowley. She had blond hair and hazel eyes and was seventeen. She was reported missing on September 2 and was found 3 days later on the 5th. Her hair had been cut short and there were signs of physical abuse due to beatings, however no sign of sexual assault. There were also ligature marks around her wrists as well as burns that suggest she was both hand cuffed and tied with a rope. When you look at the photo there are no signs of post-mortem bruising and her body was dumped at a local park. It appears to have been dumped with no intentional placement of the body. However, when her parents were asked to identify the body and the clothing, they were entirely adamant that their daughter would never wear clothes like these. She was a good and promising student, and not a high risk victim. She did not like revealing clothes and therefore would never be caught wearing a very short denim skirt or crop top."

Morgan asked the question "So looking at his history and the other victims and the statements of family and friends, all were dressed in clothes that had some aspect where the families knew they were not their clothes because they wouldn't dress like that?"

"Yes Morgan, that is correct. Looking at the second victim Rochelle King, she had brown hair and blue eyes. She was taken on the 7th and found in an alley on the 9th. She had the same ligature marks and burns, it appears she was also tortured for a small amount of time, namely by being beaten, such as the first victim was. She was 24 with no family. She was found in a plaid skirt and a black blouse, unbuttoned so that her bra was showing. Her friends said the clothes were not hers, because she owned no skirts. She hated them and was more of a Tom Boy.

Third victim was taken one week later on the 16th and found hanging from a tree on a street 4 blocks from her house on the 23rd. Emilee Raynell was 36, and was reported missing by her long term partner. She was found only in hot pink lingerie which her partner said was definitely not hers because she 'hated the wretched colour'. She had short brown hair and dark brown eyes. She was found with severe post-mortem bruising and the rope burns on her wrists were much more pronounced as she was tied down longer. She also had the rope burns on her ankles. There were shallow cuts on her stomach, most likely due to torture on the unsub's part. There was also signs of sexual assault."

Rossi stated "the second and the third victims hair were already short, therefore didn't need cutting, so can we say that the unsub is possibly fixated on one person and that this killing is just a build up?"

Hotch agreed with this statement. "Next was 9 year old Bobby Freeman. She was abducted whilst playing at a local park on the 25th and was found tied to a swing at the park on the 28th. She was found wearing a soccer uniform. Her hair was long and blond, but was again cut short. Her mother stated that she thought soccer was for boys and she would only go to ballet classes. She had burns from the ropes on her wrist. Though she was only taken for a few days, it appears that she put up a struggle. As such she had many bruises, from quite severe beatings, though none of it was post-mortem.

On the 2nd of October Kelly Saltzman, a teacher was taken. She had long blonde hair and blue eyes. She was found in camouflage shorts and top. The tops buttons were undone and she had a high visibility vest on. She was found at the school she teaches the next day. Her hair was cut and there were ligature marks from cuffs but no rope burn. Slight bruising on her abdomen and that was all. Her husband said she hated the outdoors and had never been camping or anything of the sort in her life.

Eight days later on the 11th Jennifer Flash was taken. She had short brown hair and brown eyes. She was found a week later on the 18th in front of the grocery store that her husband is the manager of. He was the one that found her. She was found in a shop uniform. Her husband said that she used to work there, but hated it so much that she vowed never to work there again, and instead took courses to become a realtor. She had bruises on her wrists from handcuffs and very bad rope burns on both her wrists and ankles from being tied down for long periods of time. By far, she was the most badly beaten. A broken radius in her left forearm, 3 broken toes. Also there were signs of repeated sexual assault, though no DNA evidence has been recovered.

It appears that the unsub cleans up well after victim to counteract any forensic evidence that could possibly tie him to the bodies which would result in him being caught.

It is to be noted that the cause of death of all victims was due to asphyxiation most likely with a pillow. Apart from this last victim. She was beaten to a point where six of her ribs were broken and one of those ribs penetrated her right lung. She had asthma, and the stress of this amongst everything else, especially the lung collapsing due to the puncture caused her death.

He still has his latest victim. 11 year old Lauren Tverdich. She was taken today, the 18th, shortly after midnight. We have been called in to help in finding her and hopefully bringing her home. She has short bronwy-blonde hair and chocolate brown eyes. She was kidnapped from her home, and was reported missing when her father went to check on her before bed."

Emily asked "How do we know that her disappearance is related to the case?"

For which Hotch had already formulated a reply "With this unsub's history, it is too much of a risk to say that this kidnapping isn't related. As such, I hope to have us in the air in 20 minutes and on the way. We are flying to Raleigh, North Carolina, and I hope to be there as soon as possible. Garcia, pack your things, you are coming with us. This case has a lot of paper work and as such it would be too hard to get you all the documentation so it will make it easier for you to be there. Also this guy has varied cooling off periods both short and long, for efficiency you should be there with us. Morgan will help you with the computers you need to take.

Okay everyone. See you at the airport, we will talk through ideas on the plane."

With that Hotch got up and made his way to his office. The rest of the team stiffly stood and took a few seconds to stretch out their tired bodies before making their way to the door. Just as JJ was about to follow Reid, Rossi, Morgan and Garcia out the door to go to her car and make her way to the airport, Emily's voice called out after her.

"JJ, where do you think you're going?"

JJ turned around, somewhat confused and said "Urm, is that a trick question…? To my car and then to the airport? We have an unsub to catch. Did you get that, or did you draw eyes on your eyelids and sleep through the briefing again?"

"Again? That was one time, and I was exhausted. Cut me some slack. Haha. But seriously, you're not driving, you know that right?"

Confused JJ inquired "And why is that?"

"Because you have a nasty gash on your forehead, possibly a concussion and you are swaying around like a daisy in a strong wind."

"I am?"

"No, but the fact that you didn't know shows me that you shouldn't be driving. Give me a second and I will pack my things. You, Agent Jareau are riding with me and boy genius."

"Fine. Great. Now I'll have Reid pestering me about going to the ER. Do you think Hotch would be upset if I threatened him with my gun?"

"Um, probably. We are a family remember, even when we piss you off."

JJ loudly sighed "Yeah, yeah. I know. Haaa."

And with that both agents left the conference room, go bags in hand and headed towards the elevator doors.

**So that is the third chapter. I really wanted to go into a lot of detail because there are pieces about the victims that will be important. Please review and let me know what you think. ( : **


	4. Chapter 4

**So chapter 4. A note: there may or may not be pairings in this story, I am not exactly sure yet. Thanks ( :**

**4**

"JJ. JJ. Earth to JJ. JJ!"

"What? What?!" JJ asked groggily as she was pulled from a restful sleep.

"You're bleeding on the window."

"I'm what?"

"Emily said you're bleeding on the window." Reid piped up from the back seat.

"I'm…" JJ started as she turned her head to see there was indeed blood on the window, which had begun to seep to the base and onto to the door. "Oh crap. Crap. Sorry Em. Crap, I thought it had stopped. Crap, crap, cra…"

"It's fine, honestly." Emily managed to squeeze in as JJ chastised herself.

"No, it's not fine. I'm getting blood all over your car. CRAP."

"Here JJ, take this." Reid said as he handed her a handkerchief.

"Thanks Reid."

"JJ?"

"Yes Reid?"

When we get to North Carolina, you will go straight to an ER right?"

"Yeah, if we don't have to go straight to the police station."

"No JJ. Straight away. You are bleeding a lot, and it needs to get dealt with straight away."

"Fine, fine. I don't need you going annoying brother mode on me."

"Good." Reid said with a hint of triumph in his voice.

As they arrived at the airport, Emily parked the car and the three agents grabbed their bags and headed off to the runway to meet up with the rest of the team. On the journey over JJ began to feel slightly dizzy but pushed through. Upon the entire team gathering, they strode confidently towards the stairs and began their ascent up them. Derek was behind JJ and Emily in front. Near the top of the staircase, JJ's dizzy spell returned and came to the forefront of her thoughts as she started to sway. Quickly she grabbed a hold of the railing and steadied herself, but not before the ever vigilant Derek Morgan noticed.

"JJ, Girl, are you alright? You seem a bit, unsteady."

"I'm fine Morgan." JJ said abruptly before preparing to take her next step. Moments later JJ lifted her leg, only to bring it down on the step she was already standing on, stunning herself, and propelling herself forwards into Emily's legs. Panicked calls from Derek alerted Emily to JJ's eventual fall, and allowed her to turn around just in time to stop JJ's head colliding with a hard object for the second time that morning. Hotch and Reid poked their head around the corner of the entrance to the plane to see the three agents looking somewhat stunned. He grew anxious when he saw that it was JJ that was the cause of the fuss.

"JJ are you alright?" Hotch asked when she made no effort to stand back up.

"JJ?" both Morgan and Prentiss enquired at the same time. But still nothing.

Deciding it was best to leave the situation with the Boss man, Reid ducked back inside to let Rossi and Garcia know what all the commotion was about.

Just before Hotch could start his descent down the stairs, JJ regained her bearings and non-committedly mustered up an "I'm fine."

Her three teammates, ever the skilled and seasoned profilers could clearly tell she wasn't. She was clutching her head with both hands, had made no attempt to stand up on her own and looked like she had seen a ghost. Well, the truth was, she was pale enough she could be a ghost herself.

Preparing himself for a battle, Derek placed a hand on the small of her back and told her "Jayje, I am just going to help you get back on your feet okay? Then I'll let you go if you want, okay?"

The only response was a slight wave of her head, which was quickly stopped as the look on her face became one of pain. Emily moved her hands under JJ's arm and aided Derek in helping JJ stand.

Once up, she looked no better, instead swaying like she would pass out. Derek looked to Emily, and Emily to Hotch, asking the silent question of 'what should we do?'

Hotch looked just as dismayed, and decided it was best to let the situation play out between the three friends.

Emily took Morgan's and JJ's go bags and passed them as well as hers up to Hotch. She turned back around and gave all her attention to JJ. Morgan placed one hand under JJ's left arm, and one hand on her right hip.

There was only just enough room on the staircase to allow Morgan and JJ to be side by side, so Emily settled for standing above them with her left hand under JJ's right arm and her right hand bracing herself on the railing. Emily and Derek looked at each other and Emily told JJ "Sweetie, we're gonna start heading up into the plane now okay? Then we'll settle you on the couch. Tell us if you need to stop."

A barely audible "Mmm" escaped JJ's mouth and both agents took that as a sign to start moving. Slowly and steadily they moved up the stairs until JJ tripped over her own feet. "mmmmmhhhh" JJ groaned as she was steadied by her friends, who looked at each other, at JJ then back at each other. Their level of worry had increased exponentially. Nevertheless, when JJ was ready they got to the top of the stairs and into the safety of the BAU plane. Once inside Derek was on one side and Emily on the other. As they turned to head towards the couch to set JJ down, they were met with the worried looks of the rest of their teammates.

They set JJ on the couch, and Emily made her lie down then covered her up with a blanket. Rossi as the first to speak said "So what do we do? She obviously needs medical attention, but she has no family in Virginia and Penelope is coming with us."

Hotch replied to this "I agree with that Dave, but I think she should come with us. We are already on the plane, and we can get her to a hospital just as quickly as one of us driving her there now, as it would be to fly to North Carolina and get it then. Also, I would prefer her with us so we can watch her. It's a better option than her being at home by herself. And you know, she would check herself out of hospital AMA even if it was made clear that she should stay."

JJ had listened to the concerns of her teammates and piped up an "I'm fine. I just got dizzy. A couple hours of sleep and I'll be good as new."

Everyone looked at her contemplating their options. Reid voiced his opinion, "that may be so, but you could have a concussion, so you shouldn't sleep."

Growing frustrated JJ snapped "I am an adult Reid, I am capable of making my own choices. And I can do such without your scrutiny."

JJ looked up to see Reid turning red, and averting his gaze away from her. Guilt immediately panged through her entire body as she realised how harsh she had sounded. "Gee, I am really sorry Reid. I know you're looking out for me. I'm just tired, and this has not been the most ideal start to the day."

His colour lessened and he told her "It's okay. You can get some sleep, we'll just keep waking you up to make sure you don't lapse into a coma."

JJ grinned. "Thanks genius. Always the person I can turn to for reassurance."

The rest of the team grinned as Reid turned to the faces of his team with a look of confusion. "Um, you're… welcome?"

JJ laughed along with the rest of her team, but stopped as it began making her feel dizzy. Hotch noticed this and the new blood that seeped from her wound. He made his way over to the blonde liaison and handed her a cloth he had snagged earlier from the kitchen, and told her to rest, that the team could handle the start of the profile without her. JJ did as told, as she lay back on the couch, cloth to her forehead and easily slipped off into dreamland.

Meanwhile the rest of the team started talking about the unsub, and how they would hopefully find the missing child in time.

"So she was sent to bed at 9:30, and when her father checked on her just before heading to bed himself, he realised she was missing and called it in?" Morgan inquired.

Hotch responded "Yes, that's correct. A forensics team is brushing her window, and her room for prints. Once day breaks we will split into groups and canvas the neighbourhood to see if they saw or heard anything."

Rossi asked "So, saying that this is our unsub, what made her a good target? I mean, he had only gotten rid of his last victim the day before, it's not like he had time to canvas and search for a good target. Was it a crime of opportunity?"

Reid said "Well it appears that that may be the case. She certainly fits the profile. It was stated in the report that she liked to sleep with her window open, which her father would then close as he was going to bed."

"Could it be that the unsub happened to notice this, and made the most of the situation, or that he had prior knowledge of the girl and used this to his advantage?" Emily asked.

"I am not sure. However, one thing that we have to take into account is the dump site of the sixth victim, the location of this girls house. This shows that he likely has his own form of transportation, and can get around without drawing too much attention to himself." Hotch stated.

"Right. That is very true. Has anybody noticed this?" Emily inquired as she pointed to the timeline of when the victims were reported missing. It appears that the 2 victims he had the longest, Jennifer Flash and Emilee Raynell both had dark eyes and dark hair. Not only that, but there was a longer time between the dumping of the victims prior to these two and them being reported missing."

Hotch acknowledged her theory "I see where you are going with this Prentiss."

"What… oh I get it too." Morgan said.

"I know that you guys are incredibly awesome and obviously have some sort of profiler wavelength going on and know exactly what each other is saying, but um, do you think you could actually say what it is you're thinking so that I can know too?"

"Oh, right, yeah, sure Pen. Basically, the unsub is keeping the victims with the dark brown hair and brown eyes for the longest amount of time. Not only that, but the amount of time between the victim prior to these two being dumped and these ones reported missing is a lot longer. This could suggest that he spends more time getting to 'know' these victims before taking them. Also, they are the ones subjected the worst torture as well as the sexual assault. This could mean that who he is angry at, or who was his stressor, could possibly be someone that fits this description and these are alternatives to killing the object of his true desire. That, and they could also so a build up to killing that person." Emily stated.

"Ooh, oh, ew. That's creepy, and, and nasty and just gross."

"That's just how it works baby doll."

"I know my chocolate studmuffin, but it's still not cool."

"No, Garcia, you're right, it's not. But that's why we do this job. To stop all the creep."

"Well put Boss man." Garcia commented with her usual flair.

Hotch began to divvy out the items on the 'to do' list.

"Reid, you will head to the police station with Penelope. Help her set up everything she needs and make a start on the geographical profile. Penelope, start running everything about the past and current victims' history and see if anything crosses."

He was interrupted by a salute and a cheerful "Aye aye Captain." From Penelope.

"Prentiss, Rossi and I will head to the house of the latest victim and talk with the locals and the detective in charge of this case. He informed me he would be at the scene waiting for us. It will be daylight, so there will probably be media attention. No one is to speak to them until we have a selected person, depending on how JJ feels later on today. And speaking of JJ, Morgan, you will accompany her to the hospital and make sure she heeds any advice that the local doctors give her. Got it?"

"Sure thing Hotch."

"All right, everyone get some rest. Make the most of the rest of the flight. When we get on the ground things will be full on."

Everyone took heed of that warning and made their way to a seat where they could get comfortable. Emily and Morgan both made their way towards JJ. Morgan reached out and removed the cloth to see the bleeding had again somewhat steadied. The team had been talking for a while and as such Morgan moved his hand to her shoulder.

"Hey girl, wake up."

Nothing.

"Hey, I know you're tired, but let me see those baby blues for a second."

Nothing.

At this moment, Emily leant completely over JJ, placing both hands on her shoulders shaking her a bit more roughly.

"JJ!"

In a moment JJ's eyes flew open and Derek and Emily released the breath that they were holding. "What?"

Emily was the first to respond "Nothing sweetie, just making sure you're still okay."

"Oh. Okay, how much longer?"

"I don't know sorry sweetie. If the weather decides to pack in, it could be a bit longer than originally thought."

"Oh okay. Can I go back to sleep? I was having a really good dream about Cheetos. Lots and lots of Cheetos."

Both agents grinned at this and responded, "Sure, of course."

Emily and Derek made their way to their own seats, readying themselves for a bit of much needed sleep. However, both decided to keep one eye open, to make sure JJ was actually okay. Their efforts were stifled as both quickly drifted into a peaceful sleep. JJ was not far behind as her eyes began to slowly droop shut.

**Sooooo 4 is done and dusted. Just so you know, there is no Will/Henry. I have nothing against them, they just don't fit in this story. So it's a bit slow at the moment but I hope that's okay? Anywho, in the next few chapters things will um, 'pick up' a bit as the unsub becomes a vital part of the story. ( :**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chap 5! Exciting stuff. Hope it's good. And thanks to Fee4444 for the review. ( :**

After the plane had landed, everyone went their separate ways.

Emily, Dave and Aaron had taken one SUV and headed to the crime scene. It was a lovely day. The sun was shining and the birds singing. No one would have thought as the SUV rounded the bend that in such a bright and seemingly cheerful neighbourhood, something so distressing could happen. But, as the job had long ago taught the agents, anything was possible. The misery of man could make people do such horrible things to other human beings.

Pulling up the agents saw many local cops and crime scene investigators. The detective saw the SUV as it pulled up and made her way towards them, with a grim yet relieved smile on her face. The agents exited the vehicle and regrouped near the hood as the detective came purposely walking towards them.

"Hi, you guys must be from the BAU team that the FBI has sent, correct?"

"Yes Ma'am. This is SSA David Rossi, SSA Emily Prentiss and I am SSA Aaron Hotchner."

"Not to sound rude, but I um, thought there would be, you know, more of you?"

Hotch smiled. "Yes there are. Two of our people are at the station setting up, we are here and two are at the hospital because one of them took a fall."

A some what thankful look spread across the Detectives face.

"I'm sorry. It's not that I thought that you were incapable. It's just that these cases are really weighing on me. I can't get anywhere, and this is the second child. Children, they're just… just hard you know?"

Emily agreed. "Yes, yes they are. And we are here hopefully to help in the removal of that burden."

"Oh sorry, I didn't introduce myself. I am Detective Kate Smith. I was about to talk to the parents when you arrived. Unless you want to?"

Hotch was first to speak "Prentiss you go with Detective Smith and Rossi and I will get a look a the scene and start with the neighbours."

Prentiss and the Detective walked off towards the house. Hotch turned to Rossi and both took a glance up and down the street.

Rossi stated "Nice house, nice family, nice neighbourhood. How did he get away with it?"

"I really don't know but let's go take a look." Aaron turned and saw faces of multiple neighbours staring at him " but let's hope that these neighbours saw something. They seem to be lapping up the attention of the cops."

"Yeah buddy. Too true."

Both agents headed up the path intent on heading towards Lauren Tverdich's bedroom.

In the lounge Prentiss and Smith had been talking with the parents.

"So are you sure that she had no friends that would insist on her leaving the house as a joke and going for a sleepover? And no social networking pages like Facebook?"

Lauren's already enraged father yelled "I have made it quite clear that our little girl would never do that. She knows that we care about her and only look out for her best interests. She would never, ever be foolish enough to do that. And as for social networking, she doesn't do any of that sort of stuff, she is ELEVEN for pete's sake. ELEVEN!"

Smith quickly told the man to calm down. "Mr Tverdich, I know these questions seem pointless, however it is our duty to ask them as what may seem unimportant to you may help us immensely."

Matt Tvredich rubbed his eyes and looked at Prentiss. "I am very sorry for my outburst. It's just hard. To think your baby is out there. Who know's where with some creep doing who knows what."

That statement made Mrs Tverdich, who had been on the verge of tears, open the gates and let the tears and the emotion of the situation hit her. Matt reached around his wife and hugged her close.

"Just a few more questions and then we'll leave you alone. Is there any chance that you noticed anyone following you or did your daughter say anything about this?"

Just before they could respond, Hotch and Rossi appear in the doorway. They turn to the parents and Hotch asks "Is it okay if we go and see Lauren's room?"

Their response was a subtle nod of the head.

Returning back to the conversation Lisa Tverdich managed to say between sniffles "No nothing of the sort. We watch out for that. You can never be too careful but honestly, we never noticed anything."

"And one last question, has she met anyone new recently that could have affected her life? Or maybe made her feel uncomfortable?

Both parents thought in depth about this question before Matt responded "No one really knew. But a few months, actually probably closer to six a new family moved in across the street. A woman and her son. He's sixteen, but him and Lauren get on well. He, uh, had an accident a few years ago, which left him with a deminshed mental capacity. He thinks and acts like a nine year old, so we figured there was no harm in them playing. But always where we could supervise."

"I see. Thank you for your time. We will contact you as soon as we hear anything." Prentiss told the pair as they got up to make their leave.

Upstairs Hotch and Rossi had been speaking with the CSI guys and they reported nothing apart from one set of fingerprints on the girls window sill. As the agents looked around, nothing appeared to be disturbed and as such they left the room, and walked out of the house intent on interviewing the neighbours.

After covering half the neighbourhood, the three agents and the detective met up to divide the rest of the neighbours.

Two hours and many overly inquisitive neighbours later, there were only two houses left so they went out in pairs. Rossi with Prentiss. Hotch and Smith.

Hotch and Smith walked up the stepping stones towards a bright yellow house in the centre of the street. Before they could make it to the door, they were greeted from the garden by an elderly lady wearing a bright floppy sunhat and skirt. Clearly yellow was in this womans top three favourite colours.

"Good…" Hotch glanced down at his watch "well it appears to be afternoon already. Good afternoon Ma'am, we were wondering if we could ask you a few questions in light of recent incidents. "

The elderly lady looked at him. "This is about that sweet little Lauren going missing correct? Such a lovely child, often like to help me with my gardening." A glint of sadness shone in the womans eye as she met Hotch's.

"Yes, it appears all the neighbours had lovely things to say about her. We were just wondering Mrs…?"

"Ah, Ms Reynolds"

"Ms Reynolds if you saw or heard anything that could be related to what happened here?"

The woman looked at them both and thought for a minute. "No Sir, nothing out of the usual. I have very good hearing and there wasn't any traffic or noises apart from the mail delivery van who always does late night package deliveries due to the fact that many people on this street have households where both parents work. But I mean, they come almost every night. Have done so ever since I moved in thirteen years ago, and nothing like this has ever happened."

"I see Ma'am thank you for your time." Hotch handed her his card and told her "if you can think of anything else no matter how big or small, please contact me."

"Sure thing agent. And please, find this animal. I have read what he has done. Please make our streets safer."

Both law enforcers giving a half-hearted smile replied "We'll do our best."

The duo made their way across to the Tverdich lawn to wait for Rossi and Prentiss.

The two agents had been warmly welcomed into the Malcom household. Before their arrival at the doorstep, Prentiss warned Rossi about what the Tverdich's said and told him to remain extra vigilant.

They had questioned Mrs Malcom and had just been introduced to her son. Throughout the questioning he didn't stop saying how cool Lauren was. He also told them that he would play cars with her and super heroes and that she never, ever got cross with him like his mum did when he forgot to brush his teeth. All in all, the canvas on their end seemed to be a dead end. Nothing out of the ordinary seen by anyone on the street.

However, even with this, Prentiss still had a bad feeling about this kid. Like he was hiding something, call intuition but she made a mental note about that feeling. Both agents thanked Mrs Malcom and Jake as they closed the front. Both turned and were met with glances from Hotch and Smith who were waiting over by the vehicles. Rossi shook his head giving them both the heads up that it was a dead end. The group met up and discussed each neighbour returning to the Malcoms last.

Emily spoke "I don't know Hotch, there just seems to be something kinda, well 'off' about that kid. I feel like he's trying to hide something. I can't describe it, call it an instinct. It's probably nothing, but I just don't know Hotch."

"That's fine Prentiss. When Dave and I were upstairs talking to the CSI's they said that they found a set of fingerprints. They are going to get them back to the lab, run them and hopefully get a match."

"Ah that's good. So Smith are you going to stay here or head back to the precinct?" Rossi questioned.

"I'm done, I was mainly here to work with you guys and see how you do it. I have everything that I need. If you want I can lead the way back?"

"Sure that'd be great."

All law enforcers hopped into their respective vehicles and started the long drive back to the precinct. Hotch turned on the radio, and the two men sat in silence as they headed towards the police station to meet up with the rest of their team.

Emily cracked a window in the back seated, basking in the glorious sunshine, whilst simultaneously trying to work out why she had reservations about the Malcom teenage boy.

Meanwhile, no one notices the van tailing them.

**Chapter 5 done. Hope it was informative. Please let me know. ( :**


	6. Chapter 6

******Chap 6 Woot. So thank you to everyone for reading. ( : Also thanks for the reviews. Yes, the unsub is bold, but he is good at what he does, thus the reason the FBI was called in. I will definitely think about how best to portray him in the future.**

After Derek with the help of Emily managed to get a resisting JJ into the front seat of the third SUV, Derek started the engine and took off towards the local hospital.

JJ told him that the dizzy spell had past, and was intent on averting both conversations and worried stares from Morgan. She had buckled her seat belt and then turned her entire body to face the passenger door and curled in on herself, resting her head on her knee, with her hand holding the cloth to her head.

Morgan nevertheless persevered and at every stop sign or traffic light, he would look over to see how she was. He realised about half way through the drive that she had fallen asleep, as heavy breathing began, and then a light snore ensued.

Morgan sighed as he noticed a slight shiver make its way through her small frame. He pulled over to the side of the road, popped the trunk and exited the car. After a bit of rummaging he found what he was looking for. Once back inside the SUV he hooked his knee up on the seat and leaned over her body, delicately placing a plush blanket over her.

He sat there for a moment just watching her. Hoping to himself that she would be fine, and back to her usual motherly and feisty self. He did this until he saw a break in traffic, and then continued on his journey towards the hospital.

It took slightly longer than expected due to road works holding them up, but he was kind of glad because at least she was getting a bit of rest. He knew that as soon as she got to the precinct she would refuse help or deny not feeling well until the point that she dropped from exhaustion.

They arrived at the hospital and he drove around a few times to try and find a park that was close enough to the entrance for his liking. Now was the difficult choice. To wake JJ up and take her in, or to leave her long enough to get a wheelchair, but risk facing her wrath?

Deciding the former was much, much better for his health he leant over Jennifer to wake her up.

"JJ. JJ. Jennifer!"

At the use of her proper name she was dragged away from the world of dreams. "What?"

"We're here."

"What, but we just, I only, but…"

"You fell asleep girl. Even slept through some road works that were louder than your snores." Morgan hoped that would make her laugh as he cracked a smile.

She turned slightly red, and then smiled back at him.

"Wait, in the car. I'll come around to the other side and get you."

"Derek Morgan. I am a grown woman and federal agent. I am fine, and can walk without aid."

"Call it me being over protective." He told her with a genuine smile that made JJ let it slide.

"Fine."

Morgan got out of the car and made his way around to her side. Ever the gentleman, he opened the door for her "After you m'lady."

JJ grinned. "Well thank you kind sir. Where did this blanket come from?"

"The boot. You were shivering so I got it for you."

"Oh, ah, thanks Derek."

JJ allowed Derek to hover over her as she held the now, rather bloody cloth to her face as the duo walked through the automatic glass doors into the waiting room of the ER. They were met with a sight that was not expected. The waiting room was absolutely packed. Every seat was taken and much of the standing room was being used by people to wait anxiously and also pace.

Both made their way up to the counter where Derek asked the middle-aged nurse "Ah, excuse me Ma'am, my friend took a nasty fall this morning. She has been dizzy since early this morning and there is a very deep laceration on her forehead that will no doubt need stitches."

The woman briefly looked up from the paperwork in hand to look at JJ. "Look mate, you come here to SEE a doctor, not tell them what to do. It is them that decides the best course of treatment. Look at her, the wispy thing just probably forgot to eat this week, and that's probably what's got her near passing out. And don't think that being all polite to me is gonna get you jumped to the head of the cue. Take a look around sonny. We got a lot of patients here, many with those symptoms. Take this paperwork, fill it out and bring it back. You're all the same, think you can get ahead, well not on my watch."

"Ma'am, there was never any thought of such things. And for your information, this is AGENT Jennifer Jareau and I am AGENT Derek Morgan with the FBI. We are in town to try and stop a serial murderer, and the only reason she is in this situation, is because at 2:30 this morning, she was so worried about saving an eleven year old girl, she slipped and split her head open." He took the papers from the rather shocked woman and walked JJ over to an empty corner.

"Ma hero." JJ cooed falsely from beside him.

"Yeah yeah, just fill in your details."

Five minutes later Derek walked back up and handed the woman the paperwork. Upon taking it, her cheeks coloured a little, but she did not utter a word.

The two of them had been standing for about fifteen minutes when JJ started swaying again.

"Jayje. Are you okay? You don't seem it."

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just really stuffy in here. Really, really stuffy."

"Yeah Jay, I know. Um did you want me to ask if I can grab a chair for you?"

"No, no. I should be fine."

"Okay, but let me know if you need this hero to pick you up and carry you until the arrival of the doctor."

This made her laugh. "Yeah yeah. My knight in shining armour is it?"

"Yeah, something like that."

"Hey, I'm just going to pop to the bathroom."

"Okay, but if you're not back in five I'm sending a search party."

"Please, have you seen this place better make it twenty."

With that she turned and left.

One minute passed. 'Fine.'

Four minutes. 'Fine.'

Six minutes. 'Ah, she's a female.'

Eight minutes. 'Hmm.'

Ten minutes. 'One more and I'm going after her.'

Eleven. 'Damn it. What's holding her up?'

Derek made his way to the woman's rest room and stood awkwardly at the door. He looked around for options, then he noticed a woman at the coffee machine.

"Uh Ma'am. My name is Derek and I'm with the FBI. My partner went into the bathroom twelve minutes ago. I'm worried, would you mind checking."

The woman looked into his eyes, thought a minute and replied "Of course not."

She made her way in, and came back out.

"Ah, Derek is it. Each stall is completely contained with its own sink and hand towels. There is one in use. I stood there for a long while, and the whole time the tap was going. I banged on the door but nothing. I think something could be wrong. "

Derek's mind went into over drive.

"Go and tell the nurse at the front desk an FBI agent is unconscious. She needs attention now. Please hurry. I'm gonna get her."

Simultaneously, the woman ran to the desk to make the alert and Derek ran into the rest room. He looked at the row of stalls to see the locked one. He banged and yelled her name very loudly and clearly. As he was giving her the third warning before he threatened to kick the door down, two nurses and a male doctor ran in.

"What's the matter?" the doctor asked.

"I think my partner is unconscious, I am going to kick the door in."

A nurse quickly made it clear that that was not a very good idea. Hospital insurance etc.

"Myself or the bureau will cover it. JJ?! JJ, I'm coming in. Three, two, one."

With one swift quick the door almost swung off its hinges as it flew back to hit an unconscious JJ.

"Shit, JJ…"

The tap was running and as Derek looked at her she seemed so frail.

"Sir, sir. Please move."

The doctor rushed to her side and checked to make sure she still had a pulse. He saw her forehead and scrunched up his face. Clarissa, I need that collar for her neck."

The nurse who had had experience with similar cases before handed him the collar.

"Jenny, go get a gurney."

"Doc, I can carry her."

"No agent, we should wa…"

"The dimensions of not only that stall but also this bathroom are much too small to smoothly wheel her out. I can carry her to the waiting room and put her on the gurney."

"Ah, okay then. But be careful, support her as best you can."

"Yes Sir."

With that, Doctor Dumby and Derek switched places to allow him the best access to lift her. He carefully placed one arm under her mid-thighs and he used his other hand to support her head whilst using that forearm to keep her back as still as possible. Chastising himself for letting her go anywhere alone he moved seamlessly out to the waiting room and placed her on the waiting bed.

The rest of the people all had a good look.

"I'm sorry sir, but you need to wait here. Myself and the other doctors need to examine her. When we know anything, I promise we will come get you."

"Oh, Okay. Uh, thanks."

In seconds they were gone. Derek turned and slumped against the nearest wall. How did that happen so quickly? He ran a hand over his head and stared at the floor. He only looked up when he felt a hand touch his shoulder.

"Sir. She'll be okay. She seems like a fighter." The woman from before told him in an attempt at comfort.

Twenty five minutes later the doctor came back out and made his way towards Morgan.

"She has only just woken up but asked if you were okay, and where you were. Her neurological exams didn't alert us to anything major. However, to be safe we have ordered a CT scan. That should come back fine, however if not, an MRI will be required. She required eight stitches. Other than the dizziness she appears fine. That is almost definitely just a symptom of the concussion she has. She should be cleared after the tests, then you can go. However, due to the dizzy spells, until tomorrow morning, she should be watched carefully with every act and noted if they become worse. You can go and see her now. Observation three."

Derek looked understandably relieved. "Thank you Doctor Mumby."

"No problem, but uh, agent?"

"Yes?"

"We opted to keep the neck brace on for safety until after her scan, so she is not very, uh, thrilled. I'd watch out. FBI agents are very… strong willed."

"Don't I know it. Thanks Doc."

Derek turned and left to head to JJ. As he pulled back the curtain, he saw JJ lying flat on the table. He made his way towards her head.

"Hey girl, you had me really worried for a minute there."

"I did?"

"YES! I had to kick the door down in the bathroom."

"Oh no way. Oh, man. How embarrassing."

"No one cares. They only care that you're all good."

"Hmm."

"How's the head."

"Fine."

Derek stares at her.

"I have a headache."

"That's better."

They wait for only five minutes before JJ is whizzed to her scan.

As the gurney wheels back into the observation room, JJ smiles as she tells Derek "told you all I'm fine."

As the doctor arrives, he confirms that and removes the brace. "Rest for tonight agent. Here is a script for pain medication. Take it. And if things don't seem right or become worse, come straight back. Also, for the next 24 hours, no sleeping more than two hours without someone waking you up."

"Yes Sir. Can I go now?"

"Yes, but only if you promise to accept help if you need it."

"Fine."

Silence.

"But I won't need it."

Derek and the doctor grin as they leave the room to allow her to get changed. When she is ready, Derek puts his arm over her shoulder and guides her to the car as she holds her discharge papers. He gallantly opened the door for her as she hopped in. He waited until her seatbelt as done up before shutting the door. As he hopped in the driver's side he looked over to see JJ already asleep. He smiled and threw the blanket over her once more. He was going to take her straight to the hotel, but then he realised they didn't have one booked yet, so headed for the precinct.

The drive took a little while, but JJ slept the whole way. They arrived at the police station and saw that the other two SUV's were already there.

Morgan walked around and opened JJ's door. "Wake up. We're here."

JJ opened her eyes and moved to get out of the car. Derek watched checking her balance. They both walked up to the front door and Derek held it open for her. Upon entering, both looked around for their team. Morgan noticed them sitting around a table in a conference room directly ahead. The pair walked towards the conference room and entered through the door. The entire team looked up to see the last two agents arrive. Penelope got up and rushed over to hug JJ. It left her smiling.

"I'm fine Pen. Completely. Doctor said it. So, what's up with the case?"

Everyone looked at Morgan and Hotch asked "what did the doctor really say?"

Morgan smiled at Hotch and nudged JJ "told you they wouldn't believe you. We have to watch the dizziness make sure it gets no worse. No sleeping for more than two hours without a wake-up call. CT showed her head / neck was fine. Eight stitches. And uh, we may get a bill about a new door for the hospital."

Every eye in the room was on JJ at that minute, who felt like she wanted to shy away and go crawl into a hole because she was so embarrassed.

"And why is that?" Hotch asked.

"Uh, JJ uh, she kinda passed out in one of those self-concealed bathroom stalls. She took too long. A woman said the water was running for ages. I warned her then kicked it in. She was unconscious."

The eyes that had been on Derek whilst he explained returned to JJ. Emily got up and told JJ to take her chair. She said she was fine, but then Penelope intercepted "Jennifer Jareau, sit your butt down right now, otherwise I'll do it for you."

JJ looked up at the fiery analyst and complied, because she knew if she didn't Garcia's promise would be kept.

Rossi asked Morgan "Is she okay to work?"

Before he could answer JJ piped up "hello! Adult in the room. Fully grown woman. Capable of making own decisions, federal agent."

Emily rubbed her shoulders "we know that sweetie. We're just looking out for you."

"Well, I'm fine. I can work. Meds for a headache. As long as I don't sleep for more than two hours and keep an eye on the dizziness I'm good."

"All right then JJ. But as your boss I need you to tell one of us if it becomes too much and you need a break."

"Yes Sir."

"All right. Detective Smith, this is the rest of our team; Agent's Jareau and Morgan. Guys, this is Detective Smith."

"Good to meet you." Derek and JJ said simultaneously.

"Right, where were we? Oh that's right. We had eliminated the courier van driver and the bookshop clerk that many of the victims frequented. Reid, what do you have on the geographical profile?"

"Well, with the dump sites of the victims as well as the places we know some of the victims were kidnapped from there is a large area of land that has been covered. Most of these sights were within 9.5 kilometre radius from a centre point which appears to be the town centre."

Immediately jumping into it Morgan asked "Why would the Unsub focus on the town centre? I mean it is nothing particularly spectacular."

"Maybe they are a worker and are sick of people destroying it and sick of it not being respected?"

"But that doesn't make sense. Why would he hate only women and girls and only ones that had blond or brown hair, and blue or brown eyes?"

"That's very true. And why would they cut the hair short if it was long?"

"Maybe a bad experience with someone that had these features, he can't find that person to pay them back, and these are substitutes?"

"Possibly. But I still don't know."

"Also, none of the victims family said they ever mentioned anything about be watched or followed."

The team and Detective Smith sat talking for many hours. Long until after dark. Everyone noticed JJ yawning and holding her head, but as she took the pain medication, they let it slide. They talked about interviewing the witnesses and how they appeared to be dead ends. Then Prentiss talked about her feeling, and they all thought that if she felt that passionately that she ought to keep an eye on the boy. All had reservations about the connection of the latest girl to the case. Detective Smith ordered the locals to continue the search and canvas in search of the eleven year old throughout the night.

At around eight, Hotch told everyone they had been up for a very long time and had a hard day. Everyone was to leave the case for now. However, the team had all agreed that it was highly likely that the unsub worked for a company where he had access to the company vehicles, so that he could get around without much attention being drawn to him. Hotch said they could think about the case, but that they also needed down time. They were to all head off in the SUV's and meet at the Hotel which Garcia had kindly booked for them. There they would have dinner.

As he sent people off in pairs, he told Emily and JJ to remain behind, that he wished for them to ride with him, as they needed to have a conversation. JJ knew what it was about, and was glad he chose to talk to them alone, without the prying ears of her loving, but nosy family members.

The three agents entered the vehicle and Hotch delved straight into it. "I told Garcia to book only six rooms. JJ, I have already spoken with Emily and she has agreed to share a room with you. You need to take care of yourself, and Emily will be there partially to make sure you do that. Also, she was the only one willing to wake up every two hours to wake you. She said something about you getting her coffee every morning for the next month, and that it should score some points in your good books when you are handing out the stacks of files to the team."

Hotch grinned when he heard JJ laugh. "Yeah, I get it Hotch. Thanks. So how long to the hotel? I am STARVING. I don't think I've eaten since yesterday."

Both Hotch and Prentiss laughed at that. Emily answered "not far, like ten more minutes."

The SUV carrying the three agents pulled up not long after the other two had. All three walked into the lobby where they saw the rest of the team waiting.

Morgan with his hand over his stomach said "took your time. Thought I was going to pass out from hunger pains."

Emily walked up and lightly punched his arm "You big baby."

He looked mock shocked and held a hand over his heart "I am wounded by that comment, it makes my heart hurt."

Emily rolled her eyes as the rest of the team laughed at their antics. Hotch gave everyone the room keys and no one was surprised when they saw JJ was sharing with Emily. They also knew enough not to mention it. The team got a table for seven at the restaurant in the hotel.

All ordered up large, eating until they thought they couldn't possibly fit anymore in.

Then they ordered dessert.

They talked about Jack and his schooling amongst many things. At 9:30 Hotch ordered the team up to their respective rooms and told them that they were to meet in the lobby and seven for breakfast, then they would head to the precinct at eight. All were on the same floor, so they got into the elevator as a team and as the doors opened they got off, breaking off as they got to their own rooms. Emily and JJ were the last in the hallway as they got to their room.

Go-bags in hand they headed on in. Emily immediately volunteered to take the bed closest to the door as she knew JJ like being by a window. Not only that, if there was any sort of ruckus, she could stop JJ from running out and getting herself hurt. Not that Emily would tell her that. She had to understand for herself that she needed a little bit of time to get back to normal. After all, she was a 'grown woman'.

Emily asked "all good if I have the first shower?"

"Yup" JJ replied with a smile.

As Emily showered, JJ got the stuff ready for her shower and then picked out the clothes she would wear the next day. She placed the go-bag at the end of the bed like always, and then lay down settling with playing a game on her phone as she waited for Emily.

Meanwhile, in the bathroom Emily stripped while she was waiting for the shower to get warm. She tested it with her hand and then stepped in. She allowed the warm water to run over every part of her body as she began to lather her hair with shampoo. After that she began the dreaded task of shaving her legs. All the while, she just could not get the gut feeling to go away about the boy Jake. She was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn't notice she had cut herself until she felt the sensation of pain and then saw the crimson blood.

She finished in shower and got changed, then headed back into the room to ask JJ "Hey, do you have a plaster?"

"Yeah sure. What for?"

"Cut myself shaving."

"Ah, okay. Here you go. I am going to go have my shower now, is that cool?"

"Yup, you go ahead."

JJ got into the bathroom and turned the shower straight on so it could warm up. She decided that she needed to wash her hair, and then realised that she could not place the protector over the stitches very well by herself so went back out to Emily.

"Em, could you put this on? I can't do it and I need to keep my stiches dry."

"Sure thing. Come here." She patted the bed and JJ sat down, then handed her the clear protector the nurse had given her.

"So, this may hurt a bit, I'm sorry."

"That's cool, just do it."

Emily started and immediately felt bad as she both saw and felt JJ wince and retract from the slight pressure that she was applying. "Sorry Jayje."

When she was half done there was a knock at the door. Dave asked if he come in quickly.

"They found Lauren's body, we are going to the scene now. Hotch, Reid, Morgan and I are going. And before you say anything, no we are fine. I just came to let you know, that's all. Get to bed, rest and see you tomorrow."

With that, Rossi left and Emily started applying the second half of the strip.

After finishing JJ thanked her and headed back into the shower. She soaped up from tip to toe, then washed her hair. It felt so good. As she hopped out she realised she had left her clothes on the bed.

"Crap."

She wrapped the towel around herself and then unlocked the door to the bathroom. She turned the knob and opened the door. When she did so, she was shocked at seeing a seemingly unconscious Emily on the floor in between the beds. JJ ran over to her and immediately checked for a pulse. So wrapped up in Emily, she didn't see it coming.

A heavy object connected with her skull. Her vision went cloudy, then black as she dropped face first on the floor.

**A couple things. I know JJ and the dizzy may seem a bit far-fetched but it's based on a good friend. She got it in the head with a rugby ball. (No cut), said she was fine. Went dizzy, still fine. Dizzy again, still fine. Went on stage for the play, came off, and threw up. Went to hospital, still fine. Went to bathroom, didn't come out. People went and got her (minus the Derek kick) and needless to say, bad concussion. ****Also, I'm not a doctor, so this is based on a previous experience, but is not necessarily how medical professionals would handle it. **

**Also, yep. There is a cliff hanger. ( ; Got to find some way to keep people interested. Please, let me know what you think, I'd love to hear it.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey All. Next chapter. Please tell me what you think about this. Thanks for reading and thanks heaps for the reviews ( ;**

**7**

Her head hurt. Really, really badly. Was it all a dream? Surely it was, then she tried to move but felt the rope keeping her in place and the gag in her mouth. She fought but her head hurt too much, and then she slipped away again.

Two black SUV's pulled up at the crime scene, where they met Detective Smith.

"Agents. She was found a little over an hour ago. Same M.O as the murderer. Her clothes were swapped out for clothes from the 80's. Not anything against that era, but I highly doubt that this girl would have worn those sort of clothes."

"No, you're right." Hotch agreed. "Where is the body, we would like to see it."

"Over this way, she was found lying face down in the middle of the road. Honestly, the M.E has said that upon first examination that it looks as though she died within the last two hours. Not only that, but the ropes used to bind the girl were still on her wrists and ankles tying them together."

Reid thought about this "it is almost as if he was in a hurry to try and get rid of her. Why would he risk dumping her so quickly, obviously with a lot less care, and much less attention to detail?"

"Possibly the object of his desires was finally located?"

"That, or he found someone he wanted more and got rid of her quickly because she was only a kid."

"True. So do you think he may have taken a brunette because he needs a release the blondes just can't give him?"

"I don't know. I just hope we find him quick."

"Me too buddy." Morgan told Reid.

Hotch crouched down to look at her and talk to the CSI. "any luck with recovering evidence?"

"No sir. Only the rope which will be processed. Still no new prints or any marker out of the ordinary."

"Okay thank you."

"Oh, Sir?"

"Yes?"

"Before I came here we got a match to that fingerprint from the girls' window sill. I was about to email it when I got the alert to come here straight away. Am I able to email it to you when I get back? I am heading there soon."

"Sure that would be great, thank you."

"Alright team, is there anything else that you can gather from this scene?"

A round of 'No's' signalled their cue to leave but just before they could Morgan added "only that this is one sick freak that needs to be stopped right now."

All agreed and marched single file, under the yellow crime scene tape and back to the cars.

Hotch drove one SUV with Rossi, and Morgan drove the other with Reid. All were incredibly sad that the little girls life had ended the way it did, and that it appeared as though they did nothing to stop it. Everyone knew that this was not true. But in this situation all felt it was easier to lay blame on themselves rather than on the sick freak doing it, because they didn't know if they could or would ever catch him.

The drive home seemed to take a lot longer than the drive over to the scene. Probably because they all just needed their beds and to have the chance to temporarily forget about the whole situation.

All four men had met up in the lobby and were just about to head to the elevator when Hotch's phone got an alert.

"Hold up guys, I've got something. The lab sent me the ID to those fingerprints and… Son of a…"

"What? What is it?"

"The match."

"What, there is something wrong with the match?" Reid asked confused.

"No. Damn. Prentiss appears to be right. They are a match to that Jake Malcom boy from across the street."

"Seriously?"

"Yes."

"So what do we do?"

"Well, it is 2 am. I say we all get some sleep, and meet here at 7 am like we planned. I don't want to risk waking JJ if she is asleep. Tomorrow I will give Prentiss the opportunity to carry out the interview herself seeing as she was the one who had suspicions about him."

"Okay great Hotch."

All headed to the elevator and got on. On their floor they all got off and made their way down the hall to their rooms. Hotch was the last in the hall way as he contemplated as to whether or not talk to Prentiss. 'No, better not. I'll see her in five hours.'

At 7 am the next morning, Garcia, Hotch, Rossi and Reid were waiting in the lobby. Hotch decided to give them a little bit, and sure enough at 7:02, who got off the elevator? None other than Agent Derek Morgan.

He looked around "the girl not here yet?"

"No. I decided to give you all five minutes."

That five minutes had passed, and so had another five. At 7:10 all agents were twiddling their thumbs or pacing wondering what could be up.

"Hotch, what do we do?" Reid asked him. Garcia agreed "yeah, those girls are always on time."

Hotch thought for a minute "right everyone, head upstairs now. Something could be wrong let's check it out."

At that remark all bustled into the elevator as Dave pressed the button for their floor. Once they arrived Penelope was told to stay far back as the men head towards the room. All surrounded the door. Rossi banged on it and shouted "open up." But nothing happened.

Hotch told the inhabitants in the room "you have until the count of three to open up, or Morgan gets to kick the door down. "One, two, three." On three, when there was no attempt made to open the door, all drew their guns and the section chief gave Morgan the cue to kick the door in.

He did so as seamlessly as he had at the hospital and immediately went in.

"JJ's down." All followed him in to see that this was true, the stood with their guns up as Morgan checked the bathroom. "Clear!"

He rushed back out to see the other male members of the team making their way towards JJ.

He ran back out into the hallway and yelled to Pen "Baby girl, come here quick."

She scurried down the hallway and almost rushed to JJ's bedside when she saw her.

At the same time, Rossi had checked for a pulse. It was there, which let them all breathe out a sigh of relief. That was when they really tool in everything. JJ was unconscious. Her pillow was drenched in blood, both dry and wet. She was gagged. Each of her limbs was tied to the four posts of the wooden bed with a rope, and she wore only a towel. Her hair was still slightly damp from her shower and the protector still covered her stitches.

Morgan was the first to react as he touched her skin. It was like ice. He immediately removed his jacket and place it over her torso. Not only to keep her warm, but to keep the dignity she still had intact. Hotch made a call the emergency services to advise them of the agents condition, and also that there was another crime scene that would need attention.

The other agents began the difficult task of undoing the ropes. They were tied both very tightly and had many knots. As they were removed and placed on the bedside table the agents placed JJ's limbs back beside her body. Rossi then removed his coat and used it to cover her legs which had felt very cold to the touch.

Nobody said anything, they just watched her. Garcia lifted her head to remove the gag but saw it too was tight. She looked to Derek who leant down and held JJ's head up so that she could remove it. Then the wound form the back of her head started squirting blood much to his surprise. "Shit, I need a towel."

Reid raced into the bathroom and grabbed one. Reid moved to the other side of the bed and pressed it firmly to the back of her head. Garcia stroked her cheek as she lay there unmoving.

Morgan, Rossi and Hotch gathered in a far corner of the room. "What are we gonna do boss? And where the hell is Emily?"

"I don't know Morgan. But it is guaranteed that she wouldn't have gone with him willingly, so that either means that somehow he got the upper hand, or he threatened JJ. Right now I need Garcia to pull up all the video camera surveillance and also I need her to dig deeper into the backgrounds of the former victims. She couldn't find anything before, but hopefully this will give her a renewed incentive to try even harder."

"Too true. Okay, so what happens next?"

"Right. Well Garcia is going to want to go to the hospital with JJ, so you need to remind her that she can do the best for everyone, especially Emily if she continues wading through information. Rossi, you and Reid are to go and apprehend Jake Malcom, and question him as to why his fingerprints were found on Lauren's windowsill. Get Detective Smith in on that too. I will work up a statement. If the media gets wind of the fact that one FBI agent has been harmed and another is missing we will have a media frenzy on our hands, and we can't risk that with Emily out there."

"True. Aaron, do you think that because Emily fits the victim profile of the ones he like he'll keep her alive longer. Or do you think the seriousness of taking an FBI agent will catch up with him and cause him to act rashly, getting rid of her quicker?" Rossi queried.

"I don't know Dave. I just hope that he does keep her long enough for us to get her back. However, with his history, I also know that the longer he keeps her, the more that will happen."

This sent a shiver down their spines as they thought of their friend. A knock on the door alerted them to the arrival of the medics. They moved quickly over to JJ and took over. Within minutes they had worked their magic and JJ was on a stretcher loaded and ready to go. Garcia was holding her hand and following them out the door as Morgan stopped her. "Baby girl you can't go."

"What?! But she needs me, I hav…"

"Baby girl. I'm going to go with her. You are our resident tech goddess, and you need to be back at the station doing everything that you can to find Emily and bring her home. I know that this is hard but think of how good it will feel when we are all on the plane home together. You know you have to do it baby girl." Morgan gave her a hug and then followed the medics out to the ambulance.

"Right, fine. Let's go then. Who am I heading back with?"

"Me." Hotch stepped forward. "We'll go back to the precinct and I'll start on a press release. You need to pull security footage and then run an even deeper check into the former victims."

"Yes Sir." The pair took off leaving Reid and Rossi. Reid asked "and what are we doing?"

"We are looking around here quickly and waiting until the CSI's arrive then going and getting Jake Malcom and bringing him in for questioning."

The two searched the room and noted a few things. The blood on the floor. Considering JJ had been hit and was still bleeding that came as no surprise. The second thing was that the rope used to tie JJ to the bed was the same as found on the seventh victim. This told them that he had ready access to this sort of thing which was another note for the profile. Also, Emily's go-bag was missing.

As the techs arrived, so did Detective Smith and some locals. She was told about the plan and ordered the locals to stay and guard the scene while the CSI's did their work. Then the trio set off towards Jake Malcom's house, where Smith would inform Lauren's family and Rossi and Reid would apprehend Jake.

At the hospital Morgan was ushered out to the waiting room but on his way saw Doctor Mumby.

"Doc, do you ever sleep?"  
"I could ask you the same. Did JJ get worse?"

"No. The person we're after kidnapped one of our agents and she was hurt in the process. Uh, she was found only in a towel, and uh, my boss needs, well we all, I mean, our unsub assaults women…"

"Right. I'll go and take care of her. You wait in the waiting room. You know the drill."

"Right." Morgan entered to find that there was a spare seat. He slumped down, hands on his head, wondering where everything went wrong.

At the precinct Garcia went straight to her computers and started the search. By the time Hotch had finished a press release, Garcia was calling him over to see the security footage.

"Son of a gun. Sir, there is no sound. How old is this system, the quality is so terrible. It should be illegal."

"Yes, it should. It appears as though she opened the door and willingly, let him inside."

"Right sir. Well she would have had to open the door to see who he is. No peep holes."

"Yeah. Garcia, can you get a closer shot of his hands. I think I see… Damn it. It looks like he is holding a jacket and then pulls a gun out forcing her back into the room. Damn it."

"At least he didn't shoot her or JJ."

"Yes, you're right. But how did he get the upper hand? Well, I suppose, look at him. He looks to be about six foot, well-muscled. Emily is trained, but not invincible. I suppose we'll know more when JJ wakes up."

Back on the street, Rossi, Reid and Smith step out of their vehicles. Smith heads to the Tverdich's to give her condolences with the men heading towards the Malcom household.

"You two guys make sure you go ahead without me. This is my seventh time doing this. I could be a while."

They split up and Reid and Rossi pound on the door.

The pair had been given the go ahead by Hotch who had all things necessary to warrant bringing him in. Mrs Malcom answered the door.

"Ma'am, I am sorry, but your son needs to come with us."

Panicked, she asked "why? He's done nothing wrong."

"I am sorry ma'am. We cannot tell you. We need to take your son in for questioning."

With a lot of fuss, the agents read him his rights and got him in the car. His mother travelled with him already calling her lawyer.

At the hospital Derek had been waiting a long time. Finally the doctor came out to inform him of her condition.

"She has had an MRI and everything appears to be fine. She has rope burns on her wrists and ankles, presumably from waking up and trying to get them off. The back of her head needed twelve stitches. She is not awake yet, but she is on her way up to Ward 4. You can head up there now and you should just meet her. Room 422. She is staying overnight for observation, and I also have not had the chance to do an SAE. I will send a female doctor up when one starts work. I know that you will need to take her statement when she wakes up, but please go easy on her."

"Of course, thanks again Doc."

Derek hoofed it up the stairs, needing to release some nervous energy and got to her room just in time to see the nurse leaving. She was still not awake, and so pulled a chair over to the bed, and sat by her head waiting for her to wake. Meanwhile, he sent off a text to Hotch to let him know.

A jug of ice hold water was thrown over her. She woke with a gasp.

"Well, well. Hello Agent."

**Again, I am not a doctor, nor am I a cop. I made it as professional as possible, using the limited knowledge I had as well as the internet. Any suggestions, please feel free to PM me.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hello people. Next Chapter! Thanks for reviews. Also, some good ideas, but Doritos my Cheetos had an awesome idea I couldn't refuse ( ;**

**8**

Derek's phone alerted him to the fact that he had just received a message. When he opened it he saw it was from Hotch. He was to stay with JJ until he had her statement, then some local cops would be guarding her until she was released.

Back at the station, Reid and Rossi had arrived with the boy and he was in interview one. The duo had gone to meet up with Garcia and Hotch and see what they had found. They walked in to find Hotch angrily asking questions as he watched the security tape.

"I take it it is not great news Aaron?"

"No Dave it isn't. I swear I just don't know what it is about this unsub, I feel like I am chasing my damn tail. He seems so organised, then does something unexpected and only hours later he goes to Prentiss' room, and knocks her and JJ out. He makes the most of his time. He bloody leaves the place, and in the meantime, we arrive back at the hotel. We go to our damn rooms, he comes back with a damn wheelchair and blanket, goes in and leaves with her like he is taking care of her. He shouldn't have been that prepared, I mean he couldn't could he? We have only been in town since yesterday. So why was he able to get to her without being noticed or stopped? Damn it. I was going to go and speak with her. I knew I bloody should have. I could have stopped this."

"Don't do that to yourself Aaron. You weren't to know."

"Yeah, but I should have. Now not only is Prentiss missing, but JJ still hasn't woken up."

"You mean, we could have passed him on the elevator or in the lobby?" Reid asked.

"Yes, we could have. I let him slip through my grasp."

"Don't do that to yourself Aaron, we all missed it. Did we get any matches with facial recognition?"

That was Garcia's moment to jump in. "No sir. Their system is archaic. Cavemen would have had better security. Not only that but he avoided security cameras with wearing a cap. Completely covered his face, as it created a shadow. Before you ask, no, there are no marks that can be used to identify him, I already looked. But the best bet is to go back to the hotel and ask the night manager if he saw anything. From what I could see with the security cams, besides you guys, he was the only one up so early this morning. He was at the lobby so might have seen our guy."

"Right, thanks Garcia. Reid and I will go back to the hotel, Rossi, you sit on Jake until his lawyer gets here and then start with the questioning. It may not amount to much, but at this stage, there is very little we actually know. Continue trying to clean up that security footage and finish watching to see how he got her out."

Rossi nodded "Right. But any news on JJ?"

"Morgan texted me. Stitches and is still unconscious, overnight for observation. He is staying until he gets her statement then locals will guard her until she is discharged."

Reid started "Any news on…"

"No Reid. They are waiting for her to wake and a female doctor to come on."

"Oh, okay."

All headed off in their own directions and Garcia continued with her cyber-digging.

Hotch and Reid arrived at the Hotel and walked directly to the manager behind the desk in the lobby.

"Hello Sir, we are Agents Reid and Hotch fro…"

"Yes, you are staying with us. Is there something I can help you with?"

"Yes. I am sure you are aware that someone was abducted from this hotel last night?"

"Yes. Absolutely terrible. If it is about talking to the press, nobody under my watch will. Our employees have had the spiel and if they do their job at this hotel will no longer exist."

"No, but it is good to hear that. We were wondering how many staff do you have on during the early hours of the morning usually?"

"Ah, as many as during the day, but it is usually behind the scenes. You know, cleaning and preparing for the next day. We don't have anyone out front usually apart from the night manager. Sometimes if there is an event someone will help him or her but that's it."

"I see. Does the Night Manager happen to still be here?"

"Most likely cleaning up and changing to go home. Why is that?"

"We would like to talk to him."

"I see, I can have one of the staff escort you."

"That would be most helpful thank you."

Rossi had been sitting with Jake Malcom for over an hour. Almost every question he was told by his lawyer not to answer. The boy was becoming agitated and Rossi was getting frustrated because they knew as much as they did before he had started the interview. Rossi however was not one to give up. He continued to question and as he was nearing the end of his patience the kid finally cracked. Though not how he would have liked.

He admitted that he did go over to Lauren's house that night, and climb in her window, but he said that he did that 'loads of night.' It seemed that Lauren felt she was too old to be going to bed at 9:30 and Jake would go over and 'play supermen, and shops and heaps a fun stuff. But then I'd go if her Daddy came up a say nanight.'

Rossi left the interview room and made his way to talk to the mother. He apologised profusely for bothering them, but she understood that it was for the better, which surprised him. Before officially releasing the boy, he went back to Garcia.

"Hey Garcia, do you have anything on the background of Jake Malcom's?"

"Why Mr Rossi I thought you'd never ask. He seems like a good kid. He had good marks in school until early last year. That was when he and his father were in a head on collision. It appeared that the father tried to swerve the car so that he could protect his son. He died on impact. It didn't look good for Jake. He spent some time in a coma, but then it was miraculous because he woke up. He has serious brain damage. He eventually got to go home, and his mother moved them to the new neighbourhood for a fresh start. He still goes to school, but one that can handle what he needs. He also goes to an after school program. He is present most days unless his mother phones up. No problem with his records at school."

"At school? Not only that, why were his prints in the system?"

"A bit of a misunderstanding around eight months ago. He was in a store and picked up a chocolate bar but didn't pay for it. The shop keeper called the police and he was printed and everything before the entire thing could be straightened out."

"Oh, okay, I see. Thanks Garcia. I'll let the officers know he can be officially released."

Derek sat looking around the room. Then she started to move.

"Ugh. Mmm. Uuuhhh."

"JJ, hey JJ wake up. Come on you can do it."

Her head rolled towards Derek and she opened her eyes, to wince at the bright light that shone in from the window behind him. Derek noticed and closed the blinds for her.

With a confused look JJ asked "what happened?"

"We were hoping that you could tell us that. I need to take your statement."

"Okay. But I don't remember much that happened."

"But first, is Emily okay?" Silence ensued.

"Derek?"

"She is missing."

JJ propelled herself forward, and then she starting pulling at the IV, but slowed down as her head started to spin, and as she felt a lot of discomfort.

"Woah, woah. What are you doing?"

"Leaving. We have to go find her."

"And we are, but you have to stay here. I know you're hard headed. But your head has had two hard knocks. You need to rest."

"I'm fine Morgan."

"No, you're not. And it's not just that. There is something else I need to ask you about."

He told her this as he pushed her firmly, but carefully back down and then recovered her with the blankets.

"What is it?"

"The unsub is doing things differently and is changing his tac tics. You were found only in your towel. Is there any chance that you could have been…?"

Morgan lets his words trail off as he saw JJ colour in front of him.

"What? No. I would… no." her voice faded as she got further into the sentence.

"Are you sure?"

She didn't respond, but only averted her gaze so as not to look at him.

"Jayje, it's nothing to be embarrassed about if…"

A knock on the door was heard before a female doctor and a nurse walked in.

"Agent Jareau, Agent Morgan, I am Doctor Lister and this is Layla. Agent Morgan, it might be best if you leave."

"I'll be right outside okay girl. I'll come back in soon."

"Okay" She squeaked as her face became redder her eyes stayed staring at the wall. Morgan left the women to it and headed out the door.

Back at the hotel, Reid and Hotch had just been introduced to the manager who was working the night shift.

"Hello again Agents. I hope you had a good night sleep after your late night out."

"Thank you, we did. I am Agent Hotchner and this is Doctor Reid. We just wanted to ask you a few questions about something you may have seen this morning."

"Okay, but I have already been questioned to see if I knew anything by Detective Smith."

"That's very well, however we have some specific questions that we would like to ask you. Early this morning there was not a lot of foot traffic in the lobby."

"Yes, but that is how it is most mornings."

"Shortly after midnight there would have been a man around six foot, muscular build come in and out of the building four times. By himself the first two times, then he would have come back with a wheel chair the third and left with a woman in the chair the fourth. Did you encounter this man? See him or his face or talk to him?"

"Uh I think so. I saw him heading up the first time, he told me he had checked in that day, and left something in his car. He didn't seem nervous or anything, but I didn't see him the second time. But that's because there was an emergency back in the kitchen with plates breaking and cut hands. I swear I was gone only for about two minutes."

"That's good. Did you get a good look at him?"

"No sorry. He was wearing a cap, which I thought was kinda funny. But I think he had dark brown hair. Sorry that's it. To be honest, it's really hard staying up all night and he didn't need my help, so I didn't pay much attention to him."

"Thank you for your time. Here is my card. Call me if you remember anything else."

"Will do Sir."

With that the two agents headed back to the SUV. As Hotch was about to turn the key in the ignition, he received a call from Garcia. She informed him of the dead end with Jake Malcom and the backstory behind it. Then she told Hotch

"Great news Boss Man. I found something."

"What Garcia?"

"A church?"

"A church?"

"Yes, but not just any church, a church that every single victim had something to do with. It took me so long to find it because not all were members. Some were, but others had been in the past and left, and other people only made donations to the church. It is not a lot, but it is the only real thing that we have. The co-ordinates are on your GPS now."

"No, that's great Garcia, we'll go and see them and see you back afterward."

"Righto Boss. Just letting you know, I am still trying to clean up that shot before I move ahead with the video."

At the hospital, the nurse and the doctor had just left the room. They told Morgan to wait a minute before going in. The looks on their faces told him more than he ever wanted to hear. He did as asked and then pulled back the sliding door. Upon entering, he saw JJ crying and his heart broke in two.

"JJ. I'm so sorry."

"I..."

"JJ, it'll be okay."

"I..."

Morgan instantly felt anger wash over him and he felt like he wanted to hit something. However, he remained calm and stayed strong for JJ.

"Jayje, can you tell me what happened?"

"What part?"

"Both, if that's okay."

"I… can we start with my statement, that'll be, uh, easier."

"Just what you can. Okay, you can start."

"Well Rossi had just come and said that you guys were heading to the newest crime scene. Then she finished putting the protector on my stitches, and I went and had my shower. I heard some noises, but you know Emily. She loves those sci-fi movies and ones with lots of guns and shooting. I've shared a room with her before and I can usually hear the TV. Then I got out and realised I left my clothes on my bed. I wrapped up in the towel and opened the door to see Emily lying on the floor. My mind was spinning. I ran straight to her to see if she was okay. Then something hit my head, and I blacked out."

"That was really good JJ."

"Yeah, not like it matters. That won't get Prentiss back."

"Jayje, every little bit helps."

"Hmmm." She sunk further into her pillows as she knew what she had to tell him next.

He could sense that she didn't like where this was going. "JJ, would you rather that I talked to the doctor?"

"I… I think…"

"It's okay. Either way I'm good."

"No, it's fine. I just, yeah. Urm. They… she, they did an SAE. And they found that, there were, signs – bruises – that were consistent, and there was a lot of, and they didn't…"

"Hey, hey." Derek placed a hand on top of hers and looked into her eyes. "It's okay. It's not your fault. I just need to know so that when we find him, I can throw his sorry ass in jail and charge him with everything possible."

"Yep. I can do this. And that was one big pointer Derek, the doc said that there was, uh, bruising, that could be…" And finally it happened. She let one tear fall, then another, then they wouldn't stop. Morgan pulled her into a big-brother bear hug and just kept her close to him.

"It's okay. I'll go find the doc. You rest up, and I'll see you bright and early tomorrow morning to free you from this joint. Got it?"

"Yeah. Okay. Thanks."

"It's okay to be confused, and sad and also frustrated that Em is missing. But we will find her, remember all of that."

"Okay, good luck Derek."

Derek smiled and turned around and left. He made his way to the desk as he had seen the doctor.

"Ma'am, I am Agent Morgan with the FBI and I have permission to ask you what happened to my friend."

She looked at him. "Very well. We completed the SAE and the results showed us that she wasn't raped. However, there was trauma, which shows that she was indeed assaulted, with what however is unclear, due to the fact she has no recollection. Also, there was bruising on her thighs as well as on her torso. The patterns suggest that there may have been more than one person involved, but I can't substantiate this, I'm sorry."

Morgan had paled and started to feel sick as the conversation had continued. He thanked her for the help and then made his way to get some fresh air.

He was going to call one of the team to come and get him, but then he settled for a taxi.

Reid and Hotch pulled up at the church and made their way inside. They spoke to the minister who was ever so helpful. He told them that there was not very many people that helped him in the church. Many had been elderly and had passed away. That left mainly himself and his family, and a few of the older generation that were left.

He didn't give off a bad vibe, and didn't fit the description of the man they were looking for. He did however point them in the direction of the newest member and helper. An opp shop had been set up as a way of getting money into the church as well as rescuing all things old and new.

The man in charge of running it was approximately six foot and rather muscular, though he hid it behind modest clothing. On first glance the two agents thought they definitely had a viable suspect.

Hotch approached him "Mr Adams I am SSA Aaron Hotchner and this is Doctor Reid, and we are with the FBI. We were wondering if we could ask you a few questions about a recent string of murders and a recent abduction.

"Well, certainly. Though I don't think I'll be of much help."

"Have you seen anyone suspicious looking hanging around the outside of the church, or maybe even the opp shop?"

"No. Nothing that I can recall. Just the usual faces and people when they come in on Sundays."

"I see. And what is your role here?"

"Um, it's pretty self-explanatory, I run the Opp Shop."

"Yes. And how did you get this job?"

"I became a member of the church and one day there was a need for help. I volunteered and here I am."

"Do you have access to the vehicles used by this church?"

"Yes of course. I sometimes do pick-ups or deliveries if people can't get here."

"I see. And can I ask where you were between the hours of 11 and 2 last night Mr Adams."

"I was here. And excuse me Sir, but what are you insinuating?"

"Nothing Sir. I just need to get my facts straight. Is there anyone who can confirm this?"

"Yes, the minister left just before I did. I said goodbye to him at around 12 or 12:30."

"Okay, well thank you for your time."

The two agents left and headed on their way back to the precinct. But first they checked and the minister had seen him the previous night. Hotch called Garcia and told her to check out Mark Adams. They pulled up at the precinct and met up with Morgan as he was getting out of a taxi.

Morgan grim expression covering his features which told Hotch everything that he needed to know. Hotch and Reid were saddened, but this news as well as the will power to get Emily back only made them angrier wanting to lock the sick freak up.

As soon as they walked through the door Garcia came running up to them. "THERE IS A SECOND UNSUB!"

"A what?"

"A second unsub. I was looking at the tape and a second guy came up with a wheelchair. He went in and they came out later and Em was in the chair all wrapped up like she was sick or something. The second guy was even holding her hand and looked as though he was talking to her. And no. No visible markers on this guy. Only that he was smaller. More finely built. I am trying to clean his image up now, but I don't think that I'll have much luck."

They sat down around the desk in the conference room and they began adjusting the profile, using the new link of the church and the unsub's heights and builds and working around the fact that there were now two unsubs.. The church was very near the town square so they deduced it was actually that, that was the centre point of all the abductions and murders.

"These guys are confusing. One moment they are taking time to find the victim that they wants, the next they are dumping one victim and going after Emily."

"What are you trying to say?"

"I think that one person is in control. One dominant that makes all the decisions. And one that just helps. It makes sense, I mean, the second guys just came up with the chair, and didn't go in originally."

"Yes Reid that is a viable option. But these two got into it together. Do they have a previous relationship, or somehow mean up and instantly bond?"

"I think it is more a case of the lead unsub being young and impulsive. Not only that, he is well built which shows that he has time to work out. Also, I think they are probably single, if either had a wife or kids, do you think they'd be able to keep their antics a secret from them? I doubt it. I think they are impulsive and go after what they want, but are also smart enough to plan ahead to a certain degree. Can cope with stress. Not only that but they can be both aggressive with torture yet only towards the particular type. However other victims are still physically hurt, so there is likely one that has a history of violence. I think that the lead makes plans and carries out all the torture and everything while the other guy is just one that sits on the side-lines and watches."

"Okay Morgan that is a good theory. I think that this seems highly possible. Garcia, can you run a search for any white male, early to late twenties, that has a history with violence and any sort of connection to the church but has also finished high school. Also, for one that may have dropped out. Probably a loner, kept to himself and was bullied at school. Then also cross reference those with brothers and cousins that are in the area."

"On it Sir."

Garcia left the search running over night as they all returned to the hotel for a much needed rest.

The next morning, all marched silently to the vehicles and they drove without conversation back to the precinct.

All headed in their own directions to try and piece a little bit more of the puzzle together.

Each member was about to sit down to work when they heard the screeching of tyres. All rushed out towards the front doors of the precinct and were dismayed by the sight of Prentiss' bloodied body lying face down on the road unmoving.

**SOO, this chapter took perseverance to write. The next one I am cringing at the thought of writing. I will get there though. ; )**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hello people. Soo this was a toughy. All about Emily, which I am sure will make Emily fans happy. Also, I decided to raise it to M. There are some not so nice things. I am being cautionary, so read if you wish. And thanks for reviews ( : Also, I have had some awesome ideas for this and trust me. If I could use every one of them I would. But I am still working with the mesh created with Doritos My Cheetos. But feel free to PM me ideas for stories that you may want me to write after this one. I don't have anything up my sleeve at present. Thanks all. **

**9**

_"Well, well. Hello Agent."_

"Agent, I don't think that we have been formally introduced. I'm, well, you'll soon find out who I am. What about you? Why don't you introduce yourself?"

"In your dreams dirt bag."

He cautiously walked around until he was just out of her lines of vision. Then suddenly, a hand came from nowhere and he slapped her across the face.

"Now Agent, that is not very appropriate language now is it? Would you talk to your mother with that potty mouth?"

"Probably."

"I see. Well I think that someone needs to learn some manners. Don't you? And lucky for you, I am oh so kind and willing to teach you."

He uses a hand to slowly and purposefully move the hair from the back of her neck and settle it over one shoulder. Once that is done, he licks a finger and trails it from the edge of her exposed shoulder, and up and around her neck until the point it is covered by hair. Then he lowered himself to her level and steadily blew over her sending a chill down her spine. Just the reaction he wanted.

She had been taught to resist. Heck, she'd been to hell and back when she was undercover as Lauren Reynolds. She had experienced more than any person ever should. She had made it through everything whilst on that job. And she didn't have an amazing family to have her back at that time. Now they were the one thing that would get her through. She had no doubt that right now they were doing everything in their power to look for her.

"Why don't you show me your face you ass?"

"Ooh. Confrontational. I like that in a woman. Not unwilling to show her fierce side. I knew I would like you the first time I saw you. And no my sweet. I can't take off my mask, that would take away some of the mystery now wouldn't it?"

She just stared at him.

"I asked you a question. It is only polite to answer."

"Why should I?"

At that, he used his hand to roughly grab her by the chin and then make her stare dead into his eyes. "Because I said so, that's why."

"Please. You don't scare me. You're probably just a big baby with mummy issues."

That got him going. His muscles tensed as he clenched his fists.

"You, my dear are going to have to learn the hard way how to behave."

He left the room for five minutes as he went to go and get some of his handy rope. This gave Emily the chance to relax her tense muscles. She allowed her mouth to salivate and then spat, releasing some of the blood that had built up after her he had slapped her and she had bit her lip.

Emily had read the case files. She knew what would happen. And the fact that he broke pattern just to come after her meant that in the end it would be worse for her.

She looked around the room trying to take in as much as she could. Emily involuntarily shuddered again as she saw the contents. A bed that looked as though it hadn't been cleaned since the stone age. There were blankets that were filthy. Dried blood littered not only the bed covers but also the floor. Specks of blood from the people previously in her situation. She noticed that there was still the remnants of rope from the last person that had been tied to the bed. She saw a wall full of torture toys. Different sized knives and whips were placed in order of height next to general tools like hammers, screw drivers and nails.

Emily was just starting to make the most of her time when he walked back in with a rope. A very long rope.

"Oh, poor me. You're going to tie me to the bed so that you can play out some sick fantasy."

"Oh, on the contrary my dear. The fantasies will start later. You'll be screaming my name by the end of it."

"And what would that be?"

"Oh, nice try Agent. But you can't fool me that easily. Really, I thought much higher of you. And no, trust me, after this, you're going to be begging to be tied to the bed."

The room was silent as he moved around behind her. He slowly peppered kisses along her shoulder to her neck. His hands slowly began untying one arm from behind her, to retie it to the rope. At the initial release of her arm, she tried to pull away to only to have it twisted sharply causing her to stop as pain surged through her body. He tied the rope to her other wrist and threw the rope over a beam on the ceiling.

Then he made his way around the front to untie her ankles. As soon as they were released she tried to kick up at him to have him pull the rope and send her flying backwards.

She squealed as she landed on the floor. She began to stand, and looked as though she was about to run at him when he gave the rope one rough tug. She was pulled up high enough so that only her tip toes were touching the ground.

"Now do you see Emily? It will be much easier if you just comply with what I want."

"As if."

"Alright, I see you'll have to learn the hard way. He released the rope, giving it some slack which she used to lower herself to the floor. Just before she reached kneeling position, he gave another hard tug sending her flying into the air at full speed. Emily screeched in pain as she flew upwards.

It was absolute hell on her arms. Being tortured with them hanging above you is painful. If you are there long enough your muscles and tendons begin to snap and pull away from the bones which start to dislocate. But this. This was so much worse and so much more sadistic. He grinned gleefully as she grunted in pain at the surprise.

He slowly lowered her back down. Her toes were touching the ground when she yelled "you freak. You'll never break me."

This made him angry once again as he dropped her. Then he immediately yanked her back up so hard and fast, that her back hit the beam that the rope was swung around, causing her to grunt as pain radiated through her back as well as her upper arms.

He began to lower her down in sections, allowing her to drop a bit, before tightening the rope and stopping her. Half a metre above the ground he tied the rope to another beam and walked up to where she was hanging.

"Are you ready to talk to me like a civilised human being now?"

She said nothing, only spat in his face.

"I see that you haven't understood and that your attitude hasn't changed." He back handed her across the face, causing a small abrasion on her cheek, which started to release individual droplets of blood.

He was about to walk away when he turned towards her and gave her a push sending her swinging. He walked over to the rope and untied it. He hoisted her up slightly, and stopped when she was a metre above the ground.

Before she could steady her movements he let the rope go, and she was dropped landing face down on the ground. Uncontrollably she gasped and grunted as she made impact with the cold concrete floor. Her breathing was laboured as she struggled to breathe due to the feeling of her ribs pressing into her lungs.

He walked over and made use of her time of weakness. He sat on top of her lower back, using his feet to hook around and hold her legs in place. He then leant forward and grabbed her hair, contorting the angle of her neck making it easier to gain access so that he could kiss and suck it leaving large red hickies.

He pulled in such a severe angle that it became too hard to breathe and she eventually started to hyperventilate before passing out.

He made the most of this time to tie her back to the chair, readying both her and himself for round two.

It was many hours later that she woke up, just in time to see him staring at her, watching her. But this time he had a different mask on. It was a different person.

When he saw her wake up he said nothing but left the room. About ten minutes later number 1 came back, wearing the original mask with a knife in hand.

Emily realised that something was up. The build of each man was different. But she chose to say nothing.

By this time it was mid-morning. If there had been windows the sun would have been shining in through them.

He walked over to her whilst twisting the knife in his hand. He looked over her body. He walked around her in circles looking for the right place.

She knew what he was doing. Trying to make her feel threatened and weak. He walked back around and then used a finger to caress her cheek. He took the blade, and touched her face with it. Hoping to see her flinch. When he got no reaction, he snapped, and pressed the blade in, causing her cheek to begin to bleed profusely.

"Just think about this and what worse I could do to you if you don't just curb that attitude."

"Bring it on asshole."

"As you wish."

He left the room.

She sat there waiting.

And waiting.

She waited for a long, long time.

But that was a part of the torture, making her wait, and think about all the things he had done to the others and what he would do to her.

In the early evening, the second unsub came back. He sat, staring at her. She stared right back. She refused to break contact first. She succeeded as he got up and left the room. It was a battle of wills, and she had to prove that she was a fighter.

After another few hours, the first unsub returned wearing the original mask.

He walked straight up to her without speaking and punched her square in the mouth. This was highly unexpected, so she let out a small gasp, only to have his other fist hit the cheek on the opposite side which knocked her out.

As she woke up she noted that she was again hanging by her wrists, but this time she had them above her. As soon as she began to look around, she felt something thin slap across her back and seconds later the stinging started.

"Tell me what you know about me."

"You're a sick and twi-"

*whack*

"Tell me what you KNOW!"

"When my friends get here they'll tear yo-"

*whack*

He hit her 3 more times, all diagonally across her back.

She had to bite her lip to stop from screaming out in pain.

"Tell me-"

"You disgust me."

She was hit once more across the back. This opened up the raw skin. Blood oozed from the wound and dripped down her back, staining the white blouse that she was wearing that had been ripped open by the earlier whippings.

"I said TELL ME WHAT YOU KNOW."

"Why would I do th-"

She was stopped mid-sentence as he used one hand to spread apart the torn skin on her back and then used the finger of his other hand to delicately touch her exposed muscle.

"Tell me what you know. Or I'll make this harder than it has to be."

"You're an idiot."

He stopped and suddenly began applying pressure.

"Tell me why the FBI was called in"

"Because a sicko is murdering innocent people."

He pressed his finger in even further causing her to lurch forward.

"I see you still don't understand. You'll do what I say."

"In your dreams."

"Oh yes, soon you'll do exactly what I dream about" he told her as he trailed a finger down her spine suggestively.

"You take some time to think about things and mean while I'll just leave you to 'hang' about."

He went upstairs and had a late dinner before returning to the basement shortly after midnight.

"Mate. I can't get her to break. The pain that I have dealt so far she can handle."

"I am sure that she just needs time to think – and maybe a bit more pain. She will break, and then eventually you'll get to have her too. Just like the two others. I have this planned, just do as I say."

"Yeah, but still. I don't know. If she's not right… if she's not, then I can't, and if" He started pacing the room thinking, wondering what he should do.

"Woah. Hold your horses. We went over this. I went over this. It is new, and it is going to be the best, because she is an FBI agent. We saw how the first one reacted. I left mine there because we had to choose one or the other. I let you have your one, to say thanks for all your help. So that your first time at doing everything by yourself be with an FBI Agent that should have been able to protect herself. She's your type. That's what you want, isn't it?"

"Yes, but she is a damn FBI agent. I said that I wanted to take it up a notch. Not climb the whole freaking ladder in one damn go."

"Yeah, but this way is so much more invigorating."

He turned and looked at his partner. "Yes. For you it is. You planned the kidnap of an FBI AGENT YOU DICK." He told him enunciating her position in law enforcement.

"SO? WHAT THE HELL DOES IT MATTER? IT SHOULD MAKE IT EVEN BETTER FOR YOU!"

He walked straight up to the smaller man "Yeah, sure. And it would, but I can't do that. Not what I want to. Her eyes aren't the right colour. It isn't the same if her eyes aren't the right colour. They are too dark. Almost black, I-"

The smaller guys yells "are you kidding me. You are going to blow this off? The feeling of, of power you get when kidnapping, torturing, getting to have your way with, then murdering her just because her EYES are too DARK?"

"YES! I can't do it."

"You can and you will. Or I'll take over. I am sick of not getting my own fun. So you're older, I DON'T CARE. Blow this off and it's my turn you snivelling baby. I am being generous. Usually you only get to enjoy them when getting your rocks off. But I am letting you touch her, and make her skin crawl. If you blow this, I will never let you have this chance again. I made the plan that got you the hottest piece of ass, the most difficult of all, just as a present for you. I snuck out, just to help you get her. And you're telling me her eyes are too dark? Pathetic. I knew I should have kept you as muscles only. You're pathe-"

"Don't call me that word! I'll show you."

"Good. I have to get home. She'll wonder where I am. See you tomorrow afternoon."

"Whatever."

He began to pace the length of the kitchen. Could he really do it all? Everything, even though she wasn't perfect? She was the FBI. After this they'd come after them, him harder. They'd do everything to find him.

'What do I do? What do I do?' He kept hitting his head with his hands and headed back down stairs.

"You've had som…"

"Go to hell."

"Very well."

He gave her a push letting her swing before releasing the rope sending her falling back onto the hard floor.

He quickly got her positioned back on the chair. She tried to fight, but her arms burned from being hung so long and her back stung with every movement.

Once back attached to the chair he gave her the choice of complying or more pain. She chose the latter. He moved to the wall and pulled off a hammer. Walking over she suddenly felt overcome with fear, but wouldn't let him see it.

He told her to tell him what she, what the team knew. But she wouldn't. The first time it wasn't too bad. It definitely hurt. But she could handle it. The second time she refused, he used a little bit more force. She had begun to feel woozy but then regained her centre. The third time she couldn't take it anymore. She passed out. The pain was just too unbearable.

On the third blow, he raised the hammer above his head and holding her middle finger in place. He used all the force that he could muster and brought it down upon the finger. The last sensation before she passed out was the feeling of the bones in her finger breaking.

Smiling inwardly he knew she would be out for a while. He took his time undoing the rope and moving her to the bed. Then he tied her to all four quadrants before leaving the room.

As he walked over to her, he purposely stood at the foot of her bed.

"I've done as much as I can for now. But I think I deserve to be repaid don't you?"

Emily knew where this was going to go. There was nothing she could do stop it tied to a bed, but she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of begging.

He slowly climbed on top of her, until he was sitting straddled across her thighs. He began to undo her blouse one button at a time. With each new button that was undone, he placed a kiss on the skin that it had revealed.

When the blouse was completely undone he stilled, staring at the beauty before him. His beauty. Then he started towards the bit that he had been looking forward to the most. His fingers trembled as he began to undo the button on her slacks. They unzipped the zip and ghosted over the skin it revealed. He moved off her slightly so that he could pull them down. Then he started to unbuckle the belt that he wore as well as unzip his trousers.

"Look at me."

She didn't move. Simply kept her eyes closed.

"I said LOOK AT ME!"

Emily still didn't move. He then crawled up her body as he used both hands. One held her chin to keep her face still and the other moved to her eyes to force them open. He pried her eyelids apart and then his eyes went wide.

"Nooo. But… he said. NO. How the HELL did… NO! I can't, not her. "

He stood up and zipped and buckled his pants.

"I can't do this now. Honestly. Shit. Double SHIT!"

He began hitting his head.

"What the hell are you going to do? She is a freaking FBI Agent. An FBI agent that can't even die for the cause. She was meant to be it. She was the one. If she dies it… Why? WHY WHY WHY? Crap, crap, CRAP. I'll…"

He turned around.

"I'll just…"

He walked up to her bed.

"Do this."

He used both of his hands, and against her fain attempts at stopping him, he began to strangle her. She looked into his eyes. She knew that these were going to be her last minutes on this earth. She knew that the last person she saw would be him. Everything began to fade and she allowed the darkness to claim her.

Once she was gone he untied her and carried her up to his van. Slowly and carefully he drove to the precinct.

In the early morning he arrived at the police station. He drove around once and saw that because of the hour it was not busy. On the second lap he stopped. He jumped from the drivers' seat and opened the boot to kick her out.

As she dropped, her bloodied body rolled a few times as it settled to lie face down in the middle of the road.

As he took off the tyres screeched, but he sped so that by the time someone got out there, he would be out of the vicinity and no one would know it was him.

As her team ran out they spotted her and were _dismayed by the sight of Prentiss' bloodied body lying face down on the road unmoving_.

**So honestly, this chapter just would not get written. Also, not a sicko torturer-murderer so that chapter was probably not one of my best. Thanks. ( : Also, now I am at school again. No more holidays. ) : Therefore I probably won't be able to write a chapter a day. But I'll try for one every two days. But after school is over in 6 weeks, I will have 6 weeks where I will have nothing but time to write before the new school year begins in February. **


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10. And thank you very much for the reviews, I really do appreciate them. Also the follows and the favourites. School is CRAZY and now I have an art show coming up in 10 days which is crazy and exciting and busy and especially exciting. I will endeavour to get chapter 11 up by the end of the weekend. Thanks everyone ( : **

**10**

_The sight of Prentiss' bloodied body lying face down on the road unmoving_.

Garcia was the first to react. She propelled herself down the stairs and ran as fast as she could towards Prentiss' body. Moments later Morgan, Hotch, Reid and Rossi followed suit. Garcia halted just short bewildered by the state of her body. The men stopped just behind her and were shocked at the sight before them.

Morgan bent down and felt her wrist, using his fingers to check for a pulse.

He couldn't feel anything.

She was very cold.

He moved his hands to her neck and then breathed a sigh of relief.

"She's alive. Call an ambulance. QUICK."

Hotch pulled out his phone as Garcia, Reid and Rossi all bent down to surround Emily. All looked her over. All were sickened by what they saw.

"What do we do? Do we move her? She can't just stay lying on the road." Garcia asked frantically.

"Hey baby girl. Calm down. We can't move her in case there is damage we can't see."

"Oh my. Look at her back. Look at it. It's ripped apart. Those sick freaks did this to her. She's bleeding, quick we have to stop it."

Rossi pulled off his jacket and placed it on her back holding it firmly in place. He had seen the muscle and knew that when she was awake she must have been in pain. Everyone saw the hickies, but chose to say nothing. They all knew what had happened to JJ. It was likely much worse for her. But they couldn't think about that right now. They needed to keep her alive until the ambulance got there.

Morgan saw her arm contorted on an angle that looked as though it would be painful. He went to move it but let out a gasp, when he saw three of her fingers a mixture of purple and blue, incredibly swollen.

"Son of a Bitch. Look at her hand."

All did, and all felt a slight need to gag at the sight before them. What had Emily been through? Would she even make it back to them after all this? Before any more questions could be asked lights and sirens were seen and heard as an ambulance pulled up beside them. The workers got out and asked the team politely to move back. They did as asked and just watched as the medics did their job.

The man removed Rossi's jacket to see the dangling flesh and immediately covered it and taped sterile strips of gauze to it. Looking her over, he saw nothing else. He told his partner to roll on three.

Once lying on her back the team and the medics saw the rest of her injuries. The bruising on her face matched that on her hand and was a distinct contrast to that of her pale skin. The cut on her cheek had dried up. The swelling around her mouth looked painful also. Everyone saw that her blouse was undone revealing her blood covered bra underneath.

The skin that covered her ribs also had a purple tinge to them as they moved shallowly up and down.

Prentiss' breathing became shallower making it apparent that she was to be intubated. After the tube was in placed, a manual respirator was attached and one medic squeezed it, getting the vital oxygen around her body.

Her pants were also undone, as the unsub had only had enough time to pull them back up without fastening them.

Upon cutting the slacks open bruises were seen spread across her legs, however no real damage was there. As the medic in charge was about to give the all clear for her to be moved to a stretcher, he noticed her hand. Immediately splinting each of the three damaged fingers, as well as her entire arm in case there was worse damage.

Flawlessly she was moved onto the stretcher and into the ambulance. The team was going stir crazy. What were they to do?

Garcia used actions rather than words and simply followed her friend into the ambulance. As the rig drove away, Hotch turned to his remaining team.

"We will go to the hospital until we hear the news. However, Morgan, you need to go and get JJ. She will be relieved but freaked out and now more than ever we need her. And remember her go bag, I don't think she'll appreciate having to wear hospital scrubs."

"Yes Sir."

All sombrely moved towards the vehicles and followed their injured friend on a journey toward the hospital.

Upon arriving at the hospital the agents made their way into a desolate waiting room. The only person they saw was Garcia sitting on a seat crying into her hands.

Morgan walked over and pulled her into a hug.

"It's okay baby girl." He whispered in her ear.

"No, it's not. I, I, she stopped breathing in the ambulance. They made me come here. But, but they were doing CPR. She, what, Derek, what if she doesn't make it."

His hand grazed her cheek until it reached her chin and lifted it so he could look into her eyes.

"She is going to be fine. We all are."

The team sat down together as a group for a few minutes as they all prayed for their friend.

Not much later, Derek stood much to the surprise of his team. "I have to go get JJ."

Many of them had been so caught in their own little world, they forgot anyone else was even there. All nodded as Derek made his leave, to head up to the fourth floor, and break the bad news to an already distraught JJ.

As Derek meandered through the car park, on his way to the entrance that he could use to go straight to JJ's floor he couldn't stop thinking about how she would react. Emily, JJ and Penelope were close. Closer than close. They were sisters. JJ already felt guilty about not having stopped Emily being taken even though it wasn't her fault. How would she feel once she heard about Emily's condition? He knew he was going to have to watch her. But only because he cared, not because he didn't trust her.

The news that an FBI agent had been dumped in bad condition outside of the police station had made its way through town very quickly. Reporters had started to flock to the police station ready for the first statement to be made. Meanwhile, the town was in shock, and had started to talk about theories as to why the killers would let her go.

The second Unsub had heard the news and was enraged. He had explicitly told him not to dump the agent. That she would be absolutely perfect for his first time. But no, the pathetic little pain in the ass had decided that he couldn't have her because her eyes were the wrong colour.

'I knew that he was crazy. But how did I not see this coming. Of course if her eyes were the wrong colour he wouldn't do it. But why the hell wouldn't he wait for me and let me deal with it? That idiot dumped her, when I could have enjoyed her. Hell, I could have had my choice if I knew that this was going to happen. I swear, when I get my hands on him I am going to ring his neck. The idiot. I knew he would break eventually but I didn't think it would be this soon. I swear, he better not have been seen. Maybe it's coming close to the time that I need to get rid of him too. But not before pinning the blame on him. I just hope he doesn't do anything else rash before this afternoon.'

His mind was so wrapped up he didn't even realise he was on the right floor until he got to her room. He saw the local cops and flashed his badge so that he could get access to the room. He stepped in to find JJ sitting propped up in the bed reading the newspaper.

"Hey girl. How you feeling today?"

She jumped slightly as the sound of his voice scared her.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

"It's fine and I'm fine. I just want to get out and leave this damn place."

"Yeah, about that…"

"What? What happened?"

"We won't be leaving, we'll go back to the waiting room."

"Waiting room? What? Did you find Em?" she asked anxiously.

"Not exactly."

"Morgan, don't beat around the bush. I can handle it."

"I'm not saying you can't. She was pretty banged up. She stopped breathing in the ambulance when Pen was with her. We haven't heard anything but we are taking that as a good sign. We are all worried, but when you're ready, we'll go so that we can all be together to wait."

"I, Morgan. Is she, do you think she'll make it?"

"Of course she will." He smiled as walked over beside her bed. He placed the go-bag next to her "I figured you'd like to wear your own clothes."

"Yeah, thanks Morgan."

JJ grabbed her go-bag and went to stand up. The doctors had made it very clear that although she was being discharged, she had had two severe hits to the head. This meant that she would feel the ill effects of the concussion for quite some time before returning back to normal. In addition to that, there was the tearing which was not a pleasant feeling when moved. However, she knew she had to be strong for the team and especially for Emily. Who knew what the repercussions of her time with the unsubs would be.

JJ walked slowly over to the adjoining bathroom and closed the door behind her.

Derek noticed her awkward movements, mentally noting to make sure she took it easy. She seemed to be in pain, but wouldn't admit it even if she were so that she could be there for Emily.

JJ exited the bathroom wearing a casual but baggy top and loose pants. Even though it was not cold outside, the top had long sleeves that covered her wrists. Conveniently covering the rope burns. She placed her go-bag on the bed before sitting on it.

"I'll go get the doctor and let her know you're ready to go."

"Thanks."

Derek left and minutes later he arrived with the doctor and a nurse.

"Agent Jareau, Agent Morgan has told us that you're ready to go."

"Yes ma'am."

The nurse made herself busy removing the part of the IV that was still attached to JJ's hand.

"Agent Jareau, I am allowing you to leave, but you must be careful. Thus far you have been incredibly lucky. Many more knocks to your head and something much more serious could happen."

"I understand."

The doctor looked briefly at Derek who stood behind JJ, on the opposite side of the bed.

"And remember, that there will be discomfort for a few days, so make sure that you take it easy. If something starts to feel wrong make sure you come back. Also, keep your wrists as dry and clean as possible in order to help them heal as best as possible."

JJ was thankful the doctor hadn't blatantly said why there would be discomfort. She knew the whole team knew, but she still liked to keep as much as she could private.

The doctor left the room followed by the nurse leaving JJ with Morgan and her discharge papers. Morgan made a grab for her go-bag just as she was about to get it.

"I got this." He told her as he smiled charmingly.

"The shining armour thing right?" JJ quipped as she smiled back. The first smile Morgan had seen in what felt like forever.

He opened the door for her and followed her out. He allowed her to set the pace and then started walking beside her. He felt her pace become faster, and with a sideways glance saw that she was struggling slightly. He touched her arm "Woah, no rush. Take your time."

Inwardly she was relieved, but told him "I'll be fine."

They got onto the elevator, and as they got off Morgan noticed she was walking slightly slower.

They dropped by an SUV so that they could drop off her bag before heading over to meet up with the rest of the team and see if there was any news about Emily.

As they walked through the doors they saw that everyone was still sitting. The team looked up and saw JJ and Morgan. The three profilers looked up and noted straight away the long sleeved top and the pants.

Penelope however ran up to JJ and engulfed her in a massive hug. Derek sat down to have his fellow profilers raise their eyebrows at him asking the silent question. He tilted his sideways giving a half grin raising one eye brow. This told the profilers that she was going to be okay. And at this moment, that was all that they could hope for.

It was nearly twelve and the team was still sat waiting. All were growing impatient and restless. It was then that Hotch spoke. "We need to eat."

All were about to protest, but none did, because they knew this was true. Reid and Rossi offered to go and get decent food and coffee for them all. JJ said she would go too, but Morgan gave an inconspicuous shake of the head which Hotch silently acknowledged. "It's okay Jayje. The guys have got it."

The duo headed off.

At quarter to one they returned with coffee and food for all.

They ate, drank, ate and drank some more.

Just as they were finishing a doctor came out "Prentiss?"

All leaped up and Hotch walked over "That's us. We're her co-workers, I am her boss SSA Aaron Hotchner."

"Nice to meet you. I'll get straight into it. It is a good thing that Agent Prentiss was gotten to the hospital as soon as she was. She had numerous injuries, and has been in surgery. She has now been moved to recovery and should be moved to an available room soon. Firstly, she is lucky to be alive. Her heart stopped ad we had to perform CPR. We shocked her and she returned to us. She had to have multiple stitches as well as skins grafts on her back due to the nature of the damage. Her muscle was exposed because her skin was so damaged. There was only a limited amount that we were able to salvage. She has an array of bruises across her body. The worst of which are on her upper body – her back, ribs, arms and face. All ribs are bruised and multiple are cracked. These will be painful for the next few weeks as there is nothing that we can do to support these in any way. She has severe rope burns on her wrists which needed to be debrided as there were rope fibres that had begun to fuse to her skin. Her face needed a couple of stitches. But the worst was her hand. It appears as though something heavy was forced down upon each of them. One finger is badly bruised, the second has a hairline fracture and the third was badly broken in three places. The nail split and was pushed backwards. One of the bones pierced the skin as our surgeon was attempting to fix the damage. She is going to be on medication to keep the pain under control when she wakes up. Also, she will require physical therapy. It was noted that you wanted a SAE. One was performed, and there is bruising on her legs that could be consistent with an assault but there is no evidence of an act such as this otherwise. You will have to wait until she wakes up."

The entire team looked stunned but relieved as they stood there hearing about their friend.

"Can we go and see her?"

A nurse came out and informed them that she had been moved up to level 3, room 311.

"Yes, you can. However, multiple people can only be in there for short periods of time. She needs rest, not over stimulation. And she will be intubated."

The team thanked the doctor and made their way upstairs. When they walked into her room they all looked stunned.

She looked so ill, and small lying in the hospital bed. At that moment Hotch's phone rang and he stepped out. Everybody else moved closer. All now hoped that she woke up and could help them get the people who did this to her and JJ.

Hotch walked back into the room "we have to go. Smith just called. It's a media circus out there. They caught wind that an FBI Agent was dumped and want a statement. We'll need return to the station and continue working on this. JJ and Morgan however, you stay here. Wait until she wakes. We need to know what happened."

"Yes Sir."

Begrudgingly, all parted with their fallen friend and headed towards the SUV and the media circus that awaited.

**End of chap 10 ( :**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11! Thank you for reviews. Also for the follows and favourites. You're all awesome. I haven't been able to write as much with study and the art show which is now in only 4 days. EEK. Will try for another one by the end of this week / the weekend. It is a public holiday, so I have an 3 day weekend. ( :**

**11**

Hotch, Rossi, Reid and Garcia were nearing the precinct when they saw the mob of reporters. They detoured and made their way to the back of the precinct to avoid the media.

Upon entering Smith made her way up to the unit chief. "So what do we do? I have had our media personnel handle it for now but they want more."

"Thank you Detective Smith. I will make a statement after I adapt the one I had already prepared. Garcia is going to continue searching for people who may match the unsubs description and Reid and Rossi will continue to tackle to profile. However, it is most definitely a case of having to see what Prentiss can tell us."

"She hasn't given her statement yet? How is she?"

"She's not in great condition. Required surgery and will need ongoing physical therapy."

"I see. Well I hope she'll be okay."

"So do we."

"So, what do you want me to do?"

"You should go with Reid and Rossi, maybe pick up a few things that may be handy for future cases."

With that all divided and headed in their own direction.

At 3 o clock Prentiss still wasn't awake. JJ had one of Emily's hands clasped within her own, nervously rubbing a thumb over the marred skin. Her eyes held a look of sorrow and self-pity. Derek's foot was tapping as he sat back in his chair studying JJ intensely. He knew she was worried. He knew that what happened to her, to both of them, wouldn't go away as soon as the bruises and cuts healed. Derek was just worried about how JJ would react to what Emily was going to tell them. The self-deprecation that she oozed was more than he thought possible from one human being. It was not her fault. In reality, when Emily woke up she would probably feel the exact same way.

He only hoped that Emily had something that would help them. Anything. By this time he was almost boring holes into JJ. She had noticed and looked up "I'm not going to go crazy Morgan. You don't need to watch me like I'm a flight risk. I'm not leaving here until I know Em is alright. Even then she is going to need help. You saw her. You see her now. You heard the doctor. Her recovery is going to take a long time. A long time that she is going to hate."

JJ got up and started pacing rapidly as she vented her frustration.

"A recovery that is only necessary because she was there looking out for me. She was there, because I was the one who got myself hurt, who was the idiot and who ran over to her before checking the room. I was the idiot who got hit and got tied to a bed and couldn't stop them from… and stop them, and, and I am responsible for Emily being taken. I am so stupid. I can't believe she had to go through hell. I can't believe they took her, hurt her and discarded her like trash. I'm an FBI agent and didn't protect myself or my partner. And they did that, they did all of that because I was so STUPID."

Derek got up and walked over to her, cautiously placing his hands on the furious blonde's shoulders. "Look at me JJ."

She wouldn't. She only moved to turned around. He tightened his grip slightly and held her in place. Then lifted her face up with one hand.

"Listen to me and listen good. This is NOT your fault. None of it. And if Prentiss was awake she would be the first in line to tell you that. Followed by every other person in this team. I know her, and she won't hold it against you. She would probably be more worried about you than herself. You didn't LET this happen to you or her. It was going to happen that way. We are just lucky that you both made it back to us. You are not okay, but in time you both will be. What happened doesn't make you a bad agent or a bad friend. It doesn't mean that anybody will think any less of you. Trust me."

He removed his arms from her shoulders and pulled her into a big hug.

"We all love both of you, and just want you to get back to normal so that we can all breathe a little easier."

"You really don't think that she is going to be angry at me? Or upset? Or…"

Morgan told her to hush, and spun her around to face the bed "why don't you ask her yourself?"

JJ turned around and felt relief flood through her entire body. She made her way to the bed, and again took Emily's hand in hers as the tears started to slip from her eyes, that were matched by tears from brown eyes.

Derek snuck out and headed to go find the doctor so that they could hopefully remove the tube. He knew Emily must hate it, and the fact that it would hinder her ability to give a statement.

As the evening was due to approach he headed over to the store and flung the door open. He flicked the sign from open to shut and made his way downstairs where the idiot would surely be cleaning up. He saw no one was in the shop and headed down to the sound proof room. That was where he was found. Sitting on the bed, moping about head in his hands.

"Are you an idiot?"

"What? No I'm…"

"I think you are. I think you are the stupidest, craziest, pain in the ass that I have ever met. Why the hell would you dump her, huh?"

"I…"

"Because I think it takes a real idiot to do that. Even one as simple minded as you. Tell me, why didn't you listen to me?"

"I did but…"

"You see, I don't think that you did. Because if you had, she would be dead right now wouldn't she?"

"Well…"

"Wouldn't she?"

The larger man stood up and started pacing. "No. Yes. I don't know. Maybe. Why is it my fault? We got into this together. I said what I needed and she wasn't it."

"What? So you go and dump her? IN FRONT OF THE POLICE STATION!?"

"She was an FBI Agent. It would have been w…"

"It would have been what, huh? BETTER! If you couldn't deal with her because she wasn't perfect you should have told me back at the hotel. I could have had the one I wanted. The one that was perfect for ME. But NO, I was stupid enough to get the one YOU wanted. Well guess what dumbo, we're going to get me my one, and I am finally going to get to enjoy her the way you did and the way you could have with the last one if you hadn't DUMPED her."

"I don't think th…"

"I don't care what you think. If you don't help me I'll turn you in. No one will believe it is me you knit wit. Hurry up. I want to get her number. She is mine. She's all mine."

JJ was standing exactly where she had been when Derek had left as he arrived back with the doctor.

Derek walked around to the side of the bed and stood beside JJ.

"Agent Prentiss, I am Doctor Sittin and I was one of the doctors that operated on you. I am going to look you over and then I will assess as to whether the tube can come out. Blink once for yes and twice for no."

She blinked once.

The doctor looked at her hand and the various other damaged parts of her body and nodded whilst writing notes down on her chart.

"Everything looks to be fine agent Prentiss. Now I need you to be honest with me are you in pain?"

Two blinks.

"Emily?" Both JJ and Derek talked down to as if she were a child.

One blink.

The doctor chuckled "I thought so. I will get the nurse to bring you in some medication. It may make you slightly drows…"

The doctor was stopped mid-sentence as the heart monitor picked up and Emily's eyes grew wide.

"Agent Prentiss, you need to understand that you have been through a lot and need the appropriate amount of time to relax and rest."

One blink.

She raised her good hand to the tube that was breathing for her and looked pleadingly at both her friends and the doctor.

"Uh, doctor. I know Emily. I think that she understands that she needs to rest, but the agent in her wants to give her statement before she can truly relax." Derek told the man.

He looked at her "is that true?"

One blink.

"Okay Agent Prentiss. You are breathing over the vent, so there is no reason not to take it out. However, you still will need oxygen so must wear the nasal cannula. Do you understand?"

One blink.

"Okay Agent. I will go and get the nurse to help, and will be back in a minute."

The doctor left the three agents in the room.

"Are you really okay Em?" Morgan asked.

One blink.

"You're not just saying that?"

Two blinks.

The doctor walked back into the room. "Okay Agent." He removed the tape from her mouth and place his hand firmly around the tube. "On three I need you to cough as I pull out the tube."

One blink.

"One, two, three."

With a combination of coughing and pulling, the tube was extracted and Emily looked slightly relieved to be free of the thing.

"Agent, you have fifteen minutes before Nurse Kelly comes back in with medication that will relieve the pain and allow you to rest." He told her as he placed the cannula in her nose.

"Yes." Emily managed to hoarsely whisper.

"And drink plenty of water. It should help, though at the moment talking won't be the easiest of tasks."

"Thanks." She croaked again.

The doctor left and she immediately told her friends "I'm fine."

"Well, I'm glad. Though I don't believe you yet." Derek told her.

"Can't blame a girl for trying."

"Too true."

"Emily, I-"

"JJ. Don't go there. I heard it all. Listen to Morgan. Please…" she held JJ's hand in her good one "I'm fine."

"I, uh, I, okay." She smiled down at her friend.

"Well. Not that this isn't great fun, but I think that doctor is going to stick his word."

"Right, right. I'm all set. You just go when you're ready." Derek told her.

"I was waiting in the hotel room and there was a knock on the door. It was late and I presumed that JJ had ordered room service. But when I opened the door there was a man with a gun. I don't remember what he looked like, but I remember somehow that he got the upper hand and I don't remember anything except waking up taped to a chair. Everything is kind of, kind of hazy. It all just happened so quickly. But he had me on the chair then tied rope around my wrists with them behind my back. I tried to fight but he twisted me around. Then next thing I remember I was dangling, then dropping. Then I hit the ceiling beam because he had the rope over it so he could pull me up and down. And I dropped and he climbed on top of me. My ribs hurt and it goes black. I don't remember much else apart from hanging and the whip. He kept asking what we knew and when I didn't tell him he hit me. It got really painful and then I remember waking up and he was on top of me."

She stopped and gulped.

"I remember that the place had no windows. No markers that could give me a clue as to where we were. And he always wore a damn mask. But that was the other thing. I think there may be two unsubs. One was smaller and just came in and stared at me. That was all he did. He was physically smaller than the other guy."

A deep breath in.

"The other unsub. He was large. About 6 foot, no visible markers. Ah, he um. He. Straddled me. And he, uh, he undid the buttons of my blouse and kept kissing me. Then he, when he. Uh."

JJ squeezed her hand encouragingly.

"He got down to my slacks and unbuttoned them an, and, un, undid his pants. He was about to, he was going to uh, he, then he told me to look at him. I wouldn't and he pried my eyes open. He jumped up and freaked out then started pacing saying I wasn't right. He was pacing and berating himself and them came over to me and started strangling me. I, I thoug- I honestly thought that I was going to die. Uh, and that's all I remember. Sorry."

"That's really good Em."

"Definitely."

"I'm going to go fill in the rest of the team. JJ what are you going to do?"

"I'm uh, Em, do you want me to stay?"

"You can if you want, but I don't know how exciting it'll be."

"It'll be fine, Em. Okay? Derek I'll stay."

"Okay, I'll get Hotch to send over some of the locals to stand guard. Be safe guys. Em, the team will no doubt come visit. JJ, we'll come get you later. You need to rest as well, and you know that."

Emily was slightly confused as she looked at JJ, who deflected this and nodded at Morgan.

Morgan left the room, calling Hotch to tell him to send the guards and tell him the news.

Meanwhile Emily turned to JJ. "We know what happened to me, but what happened to you?"

"Nothing. It doesn't matter. I'll go get the nurse. You should rest."

Before JJ could get away Emily's grip tightened.

"Jennifer Jareau. I need to know."

"I…"

"You…?"

"I was, they, I was. Uh, when we didn't come down the other morning the team came looking. I was tied to a bed."

Emily eyes widened, JJ blushed.

"In a towel."

Emily had a feeling.

"I have some bad rope burns on my wrists and uh. I, um, there was, um t-tearing."

"Oh JJ. I'm so sor-"

"Don't be sorry. It happened."

Right on cue the nurse entered and made her way over to the bed, giving the agent no time to object to the medication. Emily hurt for herself and for JJ as her eyes slowly drooped. She looked at JJ who smiled and settled down next to the bed,

Derek was still on his phone in the car park as he passed two ambulances, multiple cars and a couple of vans on his way to the SUV to head to the precinct.

**Hey. So chapter done. ( : Will update ASAP**


	12. Chapter 12

**Kia Ora folks. Sorry for the lapse. The art show went amazingly but my face reacted to make up and went puffy, therefore making typing hard. **

**But, thank you for the reviews I really appreciate them. ( : **

**12**

Derek arrived back at the station as Hotch was wrapping up the press conference. He took the sea of reporters as a cue to head around back and enter the precinct hopefully unnoticed.

As he walked inside, he was met by a slightly flustered Hotch. Apparently, the media knew more than they should, or today they were just really, really good at guessing.

The team gathered in the conference room and Morgan debriefed them as to what happened with Emily. All were relieved when they heard that she hadn't been assaulted like JJ. But they were unnerved that it came darn close.

They also had new questions formulating in their heads 'Why couldn't he do the same thing as the others to Emily? And, why didn't he just kill her and dump her, rather than drop her off at the station?'

All agreed. It was a very gutsy move. They also wondered 'why is it that there was only one unsub that was with her most of the time, and why was he the only one to hurt her? And, was it only one unsub that dumped her or both? If it was one, could that cause a rift in the relationship between the two killers?'

"She said that the only guy that had real contact with her the entire time, when he was about to uh, you know, he told her to look at him. She wouldn't then when he forced her to, he went crazy saying that she wasn't the one. She said he was undecided as what to do, and then strangled her. Could the reaction be caused by the unsub having mental problems?"

"That could be possible Morgan. Also, it could be that in order to assault and murder the women, they have to have a certain shade of brown for their hair and eyes which Emily may not have. Maybe his partner didn't understand that and he dumped her?"

"Yeah Hotch. But does that mean that the partner will be grumpier now and angry. Will he want to make his partner pay for what he did?"

"Maybe. I think that Garcia, you need to start running a search for any people that have been admitted or treated for delusions within the past ten years. If he is young, it is likely his anger manifested in the past decade or so, therefore if he were to be on record it would be from within that time period."

"Aye aye Captain."

"Hotch?" Reid asked.

"Yes?"

"We really are running on very little. Do you think that someone from the public will come forward about having been witness when Emily was dumped?"

"I hope so. It would be a huge help. Garcia checked through security cameras, but unfortunately our luck could not be any worse. Many were out of service due to the changing of cameras, and the ones that were either weren't facing the right way, or the van happened to be in a blind spot.

"DAMN IT." Morgan hollered.

The rest of the team could sympathise with the Agent. All felt the same way. They just couldn't catch a break. This case had been hell and had resulted in the lives of two of their agents being at risk. Not only that, they had been hurt physically and emotionally. Just because their flesh wounds would heal, did not mean that there would not be scars.

Meanwhile JJ was sitting next to Prentiss' bed waiting for her to wake up. It had been a while since Morgan had left and since Emily had fallen asleep.

No matter what people or even her own brain told her, JJ still felt guilty. She felt angry as well. Angry that Emily was in this situation and guilty that it was all because of her. No. She may not have made the conscious decision to have accidents that lead to Emily being her watch dog. But she still had accidents and still put Emily in that situation.

JJ knew everyone one the team including Emily would be sad that JJ felt that way, but she just couldn't help it. It's not like she chooses what to feel and what not to feel. It's all very hard.

As JJ was really starting to get the pity and guilt parties started a small moan broke off her train of thought. It drew her from the day dream she was having, as she realised it was Emily.

She looked up and saw Emily's eyeballs rapidly moving from side to side. Next was her head, slowly twisting and moving back and forth. She started to move her arms and legs only to begin heavy breathing. JJ shot up, knowing exactly what would happen if she didn't stop this. She placed her hands on Emily's shoulders and slowly but firmly told her to wake up.

At first JJ didn't succeed and she tried with more force.

"WAKE UP EMILY."

Emily was startled as she woke up, completely unaware of her surroundings.

She began to hyperventilate. Her eyes were wide with terror as the dark brown eyes were hidden by enlarged black pupils. As quickly as possible she pulled away from JJ's touch and turned away from her. She made to get off the bed, but however was stopped by Jen's frazzled calls.

"Emily. Emily, it's me. EMILY! Emily, you're safe. WAKE up! EMILY!"

Emily's leg were hanging off the bed as she froze. JJ was relieved because she thought she was going to have to go and get help. As though she were a terrified child, Emily slowly turned her head and looked back over her shoulder to make sure everything was okay.

JJ slowly made her way around the bed, never breaking eye contact until she was standing in front of Emily. One hand was bandaged, but she still, as best as she could manage reached out and held both of Emily's hands. Looking into her eyes she said "Emily. It is okay. It is only me, JJ. There is nothing that can hurt you anymore. I am telling you it is only me."

A flicker of recognition lead to the realisation for Emily that she was in a hospital, and that she really was safe. It wasn't all a dream. She had come back to her team, her family, alive.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry. I understand. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, fine."

Emily moved her legs so that she could start to lie back down. But even with the tiniest of movements she grimaced in pain. Even though JJ was not a profiler, she could still see when people were in pain.

"Em, let me help you."

"I'm fine."

"No you're not. You can't move without it hurting you. I'm not a profiler, but I can see it. I am your friend and I am telling you, you need some help."

"Okay JJ."

"Just tell me if it hurts and we can take breaks or go about it differently."

JJ placed her hands underneath Emily's legs and slowly began lifting them. All the while she watched Emily's face. JJ carefully placed her legs back on the bed. Emily was awkwardly sitting up but didn't move.

"Okay. Now let's get you sitting back like before."

JJ moved up closer towards Emily and looked at the sight before her. It took all of her might not to break down and cry. Emily looked so hurt and broken.

Carefully she placed her hands under Emily's bad arm and helped her shimmy back up the bed. There were signs of pain coming from her but JJ couldn't help that. Once back in place, JJ pulled the blankets from the end of the bed and recovered her. Carefully, she took a hold of the nasal cannula and put it back in place so that there was still a constant flow of oxygen.

"Better?"

"Yeah, thanks."

"And the nightmare?"

"What about it?"

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah…"

"Em…"

"I, I just saw. Saw him and he was about to, and, he. I just-"

JJ took Emily's good hand.

"It's okay. You will be okay. No one will hurt you, I won't let them. You and Pen are like my sisters. I won't let anything else happen to you. Now you should get back to sleep. You look like crap Prentiss."

"Gee, thanks. But have you-"

"Looked in the mirror lately? Yes, I have. Now go to sleep."

"Fine. But-"

"Yup. I'll be here if there are any more nightmares."

Emily smiled as she relaxed her shoulders, closed her eyes and started to doze off.

It had been an hour and JJ too was starting to feel her eye lids become rather heavy. She was about to allow herself a small amount of rest when her cellphone ringing woke her.

"Hello?"

Silence.

"Hello?"

She was about to hang up when she heard a voice.

"Hi."

It was an innocent and scared sounding voice, similar to that which would come from a child.

"Hey sweetie. Why are you calling me?"

"There are two mean men here."

This made JJ's blood freeze.

"Mean men? Where are you? Are they hurting you?" Immediately JJ flew into Agent mode.

"No they're not. But they said that… they will… um if you don't come here."

"Come here? Where is here? Can you put one of them on the phone?"

"No. They won't let me. They said they'll hurt me."

"Okay. Can you tell me what they want and-"

The boy was stopped mid-sentence.

Next thing JJ knew, there was a man on the other side of the phone barking orders at her.

"Listen here Agent. You saw how easily we got to Prentiss, even when you were there. We even passed your other agent friends and that didn't deter us. We took her, hurt her; you know what? I enjoyed it. I would love to do it again. And you know we could if we wanted to right? But I have a proposition."

"What's that?"

"No need to be so snappy agent. You seem so upset. Now here's the deal. You come and meet us. Alone, no back up, no gun, no bugs and we'll leave your dear friend alone. Or you can refuse, we'll take her, and this time she won't come back alive."

"NO I won't-"

"You will unless you want her to die. It was all YOUR fault that she got hurt as bad as she did last time. Do you really want her death on your conscience too?"

"I-"

"Think carefully Agent."

JJ stopped. She looked at Emily sleeping. She remembered the nightmare she had had to wake her up from. It was her fault she was here. Could she really put Emily in that position again?

No.

"Fine. But no harm comes to Emily?"

"None at all my dear."

"Fine. I'll come. Where to?"

"There is an alley beside the hospital next to the patient rooms on the far side of the hospital. Meet us there in fifteen minutes. And don't tell anyone. Otherwise dear Emily may not make it home alive."

Before JJ could respond the boy said "Please listen to him."

And the phone disconnected. JJ's mind was running a thousand kilometres a minute.

She couldn't let Emily get hurt again. But she couldn't leave and not leave a sign. She took a pad and pen out of the bedside drawer and wrote.

'Call from boy. Sounded scared. Must meet unsubs or will kill Emily. Meeting in alley at far side of hospital. Fifteen minutes from 5:30. Find me and bring me home guys.'

JJ strategically placed the note so that when Emily woke up and saw JJ was no longer there she would notice the note. She placed Emily's phone and both of her own personal and work phones next to Emily's on the table.

With one last look as she headed out the door, JJ was off to meet her match and hopefully manage to actually keep Emily safe.

At the police station the team were surrounding Garcia. She was feeling very claustrophobic. Yes, she was a miracle worker, but she still couldn't pull something from nothing. She loved the team, but if they didn't stop hovering she was going to hurt them.

"GUYS!"

"What? Do you have something?!"

"NO! AND I NEVER WILL IF YOU DON'T STOP HOVERING!"

Everyone stopped in their tracks and looked directly at Garcia. This case was taking a toll on them. But they hadn't realised what it was like for her. Anything they came up with, was always backed up by what Garcia could find. Even before they could solve the crime, Garcia would have something for them to work with. So as hard as it was for them, it must have been worse for her.

She looked red and flustered. Nobody had ever known Garcia to snap like that.

"Gee. Baby Girl. I'm sorry. We're all worried."

"So am I. But I can't work with you breathing down my neck."

"I'm sorry Garcia. Guys, let's take another look at the profile and leave Garcia to work in peace."

All obeyed Hotch's orders and made their way to vacant seats.

Not long after they had sat down, was it necessary for them to move again. A local cop had walked into the room and informed them of a witness who appeared to have seen a vehicle driving at a speed over the limit away from the police station when Emily had been dumped.

A woman in her mid-forties, slightly on edge had come into the police station after hearing Hotch's press conference asking for witnesses to come forward. It was small but it was something Garcia could work with. The colour of the van and in which direction it headed. It was a scrap. But it would stop Garcia from having to troll through hours and hours of footage and not come up with anything. The woman didn't know much else but was thankful that she had been the slightest bit helpful.

The men commenced hovering yet again, and Garcia felt as though she might throttle them. But before she could tell them she was stopped. It was the van. The van that might hold the answer.

But then she realised there was another reason she hated this case. Nothing was going right. The van had no number plates. None.

Did the universe have something against them right now? Honestly?

It was all becoming too much. Before Garcia was ready to throw her computer at a wall, Morgan caught sight of the van.

"Hey. Baby Girl. Is that the van that we're looking at?"

"Yes my God of Chocolate thunder."

"I recognise it."

"What do you mean? From where?" every member of the team pounced on him at that moment.

"I-, I don't…"

Morgan trailed off as his eyes widened.

"At, at uh, as I left the hospital…. The parking lot! Oh no! Hotch, JJ and Emily…"

"Already on it. We'll head to the hospital. Garcia keep trolling through footage to try and get a visual on the driver. We'll let you know if we hear anything."

The team quickly exited the police station. Surely no one had been able to get to JJ and Emily. Not again.

As they arrived the team showed their badges and made their way into the room, hands on weapons, to find a peacefully sleeping Emily. All were confused, and the concern that had been growing in the pit of their stomach peaked as Reid held up the note and JJ's cellphones.

"Call from boy. Sounded young. Must meet unsubs or will kill Emily. Meeting in alley at far side of hospital. Fifteen minutes from 5:30. Find me and bring me home guys."

Hotch looked at his watch. 6:25. Crap.

He pulled out his phone and began making calls. She was gone, and it was all his fault.

At 5:45 JJ turned and walked into the alleyway. She saw a dark van at the end of the driveway, and felt her blood start to pump through her body faster than before. A chill ran down her spine as she tried to confidently but slowly stride down towards the van. Upon reaching the half-way point of the alley, she saw a masked man, large build holding a knife to the throat of a smaller and seemingly younger man. A cap covered his face, so she couldn't see how old he actually was.

He told her to walk towards him, and said he would let the 'kid' go. She obeyed and walked toward him.

Two metres in front of him she stopped as directed. The knife that was being held awfully close to his throat was moved away by the large unsub and the 'kid' started to move away and head to where JJ had come from.

Her senses were heightened and she was relieved as she could hear the footfalls get further away then stopped.

She refused to turn her back on the man in front of her.

"Well, hello agent. Nice to meet you… again."

JJ involuntarily shuddered and the man smiled behind his mask.

"Now. It's not that I don't trust you, but you're an agent. You must know the routine. I can't simply take your word that you have nothing on you."

JJ knew what was coming.

"Play nice, and I promise no one will hurt poor little Emily."

Any thoughts of trying to fight back that she had in her mind perished with that sentence. She was doing this to protect her best friend, because she couldn't protect herself.

He pointed the knife at her and made it very clear that if there was any funny business, she wouldn't be the only one that got hurt.

He moved closer towards her and began by staring her straight in the eyes. He kept this eye contact as he patted down her arms. He then bent and felt to make sure there was nothing attached to her legs or shoes. As he made his way up, he allowed his hands to linger over her on one particular spot, eagerly anticipating a reaction.

Ever the agent, there wasn't one.

He grew angry and slapped her.

When she regained her composure she began to stare him down.

Yes, they were right. She was fiery.

He began to check her midsection. He was satisfied that there were no guns, phones or trackers anywhere… almost.

He slowly moved his hands to the bottom of her top before raising it slightly and ghosting his cold fingers over her torso. Slowly he moved them higher and higher almost reaching the spot he would enjoy the most.

JJ was fed up. Yes, this was for Emily, but she wasn't just going to stand there and take it. She was so busy concentrating on the man in front of her, she didn't notice the one approaching from behind her. As she felt the hands move higher, reaching her underwire, she took action.

Unexpectedly, he received a punch in the gut. Before she could get any other moves in she suddenly felt an arm around her neck. The muscles began to flex and she found it increasingly harder to breathe. She kicked and scratched for as long as she could, but ultimately, this was in vain as she felt her world go black.

She hadn't noticed the 'hostage' sneaking back towards her.

**So thank you to the reviews from the last chapter once again. Will try to update again soon. (:**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hey all. Chapter 13 is shorter than the others, I know. I thought I should post to show you I haven't disappeared. Thank you heaps for the reviews and follows. I'm still new to this, but I like it. And I find it really cool, because I haven't written for long, however I have read for a few months and to see writers who have stories that I have read and liked follow mine is awesome. Thanks guys. ( :**

**13**

She was out to it, and tied up very securely in the back of the van. The duo were having an intense conversation with regards of what to do with the blonde agent.

"You screwed up the last one. You had her, and she was basically perfect. Remember, this one is mine. All mine. And when I say all…" he told his partner with a suggestive wave of his eyebrows, "…I mean ALL."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Where are we going to take her?"

"Well, certainly not the shop. If that agent remembers anything that'll be a place to search. I think that old, green barn that has been in the family for a while would do nicely. There aren't many ties to the place, and it would take an extreme amount of time and resources to find it. Not to mention if they did get wind of it, we could take the trail down the back and get away."

"I don't know, I think-"

"YOU think WHAT?! You screwed up the last time. I haven't taken lead yet. I get to do everything. You pick up the pieces this time. You hear me?"

"Yeah." The larger man told his counterpart as he slumped over the steering wheel.

"And just you remember that I'm in control. I'm the brains, just think about where you'd be without me. You would be in jail by now. Back to location, I say the barn. It is far enough from the town so no one hears screaming. Also, it will give me plenty of space to get her and everything else set up. Speaking of which, you will drop the two of us off, and then head back to the shop for some equipment. The rope, nails, knives, hammers etc. You know, all the good stuff. And maybe get some blankets, she might get cold. Don't want her dying of hypothermia before the real fun begins."

"Yeah."

The pair drove through the street, looking at the familiar sights. As they approached the church, the van stopped, but only for a moment. Only long enough for both males to sit and stare angrily at the church long enough to remember how they got into this business. To remember why they were so angry. To give them renewed strength, so that they could feed off the fury they felt and let the real fun begin.

The van took off and JJ's unconscious body lay still on the floor in the back.

Hotch was just getting off the phone telling Garcia to start running through the video camera footage when Emily started moving in the bed.

All eyes went to her as they saw the look of fear on her features. Morgan went over to the side of the bed, and gently started shaking her awake. Immediately she woke up with a start and for a moment was unsure of her surroundings. The haze that covered her eyes became clear as she stared at Morgan. The penny dropped as she looked from him, to the other members of her team. All the men. Her stoic face didn't betray her by showing the emotion that she felt at that time as she stared piecing together the one sentence she knew she needed to, but didn't particularly want to ask.

"Where is JJ?"

The men looked at each other and then back to Emily. This told her all that she needed to know. Something was up with JJ and it wasn't good.

"Emily, we, we uh-"

"Where is she Morgan?"

"We don't know. We had a lead, that lead us back to the hospital. We thought something bad had happened to you and JJ."

"Thought? Past tense?"

Hotch looked at her "we know you're okay. However, I just got off the phone with Garcia and she is now looking at security footage from the hospital."

"Security footage?"

"Yes Prentiss. Security footage. It appears as though the two unsubs used a boy to lure her away. They said harm would come to you if she didn't and we presume to the boy as well. She was meeting them 35 minutes ago in an alley. It appears that we missed them. But Garcia is on it now, and soon we will know something."

The van was almost out of the immediate centre of town as low moans became audible from the back. It pulled into a side street and was turned off. Both men climbed into the back.

JJ's head was sore. She hated headaches with a passion. It took her a while to realise where she was before she realised that they were moving and she started to feel queasy. She let out a few moans and was relieved and then suddenly became unnerved as the vehicle came to a stop.

She could hear them rustling around but refused to open her eyes. The noise as they came towards her became louder, as she felt one of them, forcefully pry her out of the very comfortable foetal position she had been in.

Still unrelenting, her eyes were shut. They stretched her body out as they told her forcefully to wake up. She wouldn't. She was told again but she still wouldn't. She hoped they would just leave her alone.

It had been silent for a minute or two, when she felt hands begin to undo the button of her pants.

Emily's mind began spinning. What was the time? How long had she been asleep? When did JJ get the call? Why didn't she wake her? But most prominently was: how are we going to find her?

Emily didn't care if she was in pain. She knew exactly, more or less, what had been done to her. She also knew what would have happened. And that JJ was taken because JJ felt guilty over her being taken. Why didn't she talk to her about it in more depth?

Emily leant forward and pulled the cannula from her nose. She shifted to the edge of the bed. As she was about to swing her legs over the side Morgan stood in her path.

"And where are you going?"

"I'm coming with you to find JJ."

"Oh no yo-"

"Yes I am."

Derek looked at Hotch, who moved to Emily.

"Agent Prentiss. You are in extremely bad condition. You were kidnapped, tortured and dumped, not to mention the fact that you just had surgery. The local police are staying outside your door, and if they see you heading out of this room, unless you are in a wheelchair with a member of the hospital staff, the have permission to hoist you over their shoulder, carry you back in here and handcuff you to that bed. Do I make myself clear?"

JJ's eyes flew open.

"Well, well. I see that we are awake." The elder of the pair told her as he moved his hands away.

The other one was quite young which surprised JJ. Probably a teenager. He was the one she was worried about. She knew the look on his face all too well because of this job. He was looking at her like she was a piece of meat. And she did not like it at all.

Emily knew that was coming. She had to expect it, but it did not mean that she had to like it. She stared directly at him and begrudgingly agreed. The other members of the team were silently relieved that she didn't put up too much of a fight.

It would be hard enough to find JJ, let alone having to watch Emily like a hawk.

Hotch's cellphone rang. He took the call out of the room which gave everyone else a chance to check that Emily was okay.

She said she was although they all knew she wasn't.

But they chose to allow her to believe that.

All tried to lighten the mood and lessen the tension in the air. It was tough, and before things could take a turn for the worst Hotch came back into the room.

"Right guys. Garcia has security footage we are heading back. She may have something small, but we are to go and look. Emily, I trust that you will stay here and call us if there are any problems."

All nodded and left the room, but before Derek could leave her bedside, he felt a hand tug his.

"Derek?"

"Yes Princess?"

"You'll find her right? It's because of me she's out there."

"We will. You know that. And don't you do that to yourself. It is not because of you, it is because of two sick and twisted scumbags."

Emily nodded and Derek solemnly smiled as he headed out to meet up with the rest of the team.

The van pulled off the road onto a dirt track. It was barely visible due to being so overgrown with weeds, bushes and trees. If you didn't know that it was there you would probably miss it. It was a windy road that was quite long. The drive was neither short nor long, but JJ didn't know that. She had been choked for taking her opportunity to give the larger of the two another kick to the gut, and had been passed out in the back ever since.

The van continued on its path until it reached a dilapidated old green barn. It was encompassed by over grown trees and shrubbery. The vehicle halted, and the engine was turned off. Both males got out and retrieved JJ from the back. The older of the two slung her over his shoulder much like a sack of potatoes, and the trio headed towards the barn.

It was old, and dusty.

As the door was opened it made a loud creaking sound that echoed. Upon entering, the dust that had gathered and settled over a long period of time was disturbed, making a slight cloud, and also making it harder to see. Though the evening was settling in, there was still enough light to make out objects in the dark.

The two walked over to a far corner where there were bolts and hooks protruding from the walls which had once been used to hold gear. JJ was dumped harshly on the ground and her arms untied so that they could be retied separately above her. Her legs were left as they were, and the two placed chairs in front of her, and watched her, eagerly anticipating when she woke up.

The drive back to the police station was a silent one. Every agent was angry about what had happened so far. But nothing made them angrier than the fact that they had had both their agents safe, and it was all their fault that they had let one slip by the wayside.

They should have known shouldn't they? At least that's what they all thought.

Morgan was the worst. He had mentally noted that he needed to watch over JJ but he hadn't. He held himself personally responsible for her being taken and especially for any harm that came to her.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14. Thanks to the reviews (; So, I would normally not write this quick because of exams, however I decided to post a chapter because I am excited about getting deputy head girl. Eek. 2014 will be amazing. **

**14**

The team arrived at the police station and sombrely walked inside.

The detective who had been working with them so far looked at their faces and could tell something was wrong. Very, very wrong.

Hotch briskly walked towards the conference room, but talk the time to tell her "Agent Jareau has been taken. We are trying to find out the details. Hopefully then, we will find her and our unsubs."

The detective nodded her head and offered any and all assistance that would be necessary to bring JJ back.

The men marched single file over to Garcia who had just announced that she had pulled up the security footage from the hospital.

They walked over and surrounded her.

Garcia started her long spiel as they watched JJ on screen become distressed and leave Emily's room. The parking lot where Morgan had seen the van did not have security cameras installed at the appropriate angle in order to get a plate, however, luck was finally on their side.

The alley that JJ walked into had security cameras. Finally, something.

All watched on in silence as they watched JJ walk slowly towards the man, holding the knife.

The person being held hostage was released and JJ stood motionless.

Why wasn't she fighting back? What did he have over her?

Morgan asked "where is the other guy? We know there are two unsubs."

"That's a good question." Rossi said, "I don't know either."

They continued to watch as JJ was being checked to make sure she had nothing on her. They watched as his hands roamed freely over her body. All eyes grew wide when he stopped momentarily. Surely, not where everyone could see. Not to JJ.

Sighs were released as his hands continued to roam.

All noticed the small figure coming into view behind JJ.

"Son of a… she didn't see him coming." Morgan said as he slammed his hand onto the desk.

They continued to watch the screens in front of them. As profilers, they could see by JJ's expression she was becoming angry. All the hands in the room clenched, as the larger man allowed his hand to slip under her top. They could see it worming its way upward. Almost at its intended destination, Morgan couldn't hold it in any longer.

"Damn it Hotch. We are just watching as he is assaulting her."

"Morgan, we need to see if this reveals anything."

Morgan was about to stomp out of the room when he saw something that made him smile.

JJ had given one of her toughest punches making the guy double over.

But what came next haunted everyone.

They watched as the person who had had the knife at his throat came up behind JJ. He wrapped his arm securely around her neck and squeezed. All could recognise the distress written on her features as her brain recognised that there was a lack of vital oxygen reaching her body.

They saw her arms tugging at the one around her neck. Also they watched as she attempted in vain to scratch and claw at the man behind her.

They were disheartened as they saw her movements slowing. Then coming to a definite stop as her body became limp and she was dropped on the ground.

The smaller unsub who had just strangled JJ went over to the other one. Only seconds later, each grabbed her by an arm and roughly shoved her in the waiting van.

Everyone was so upset by the footage they missed it the first time.

Garcia had to rewind the recording to see it. A partial plate. Something that would help get them their girl back. It was a partial number plate. And, the car had North Carolina plates. It was a good start.

Hotch took the lead. "Garcia, can you please start running a search for all vehicles registered in the US with that partial plate, also cross reference that with the vehicle colour, and then let us know what you have, and whether we need to narrow it down further."

"On it boss."

"Good to know Garcia. Right guys, back to the conference room. We need to brainstorm why the unsubs would specifically target JJ."

The group moved to the room. Some heading off on a tangent to get coffee, in order to make it through what would surely be a long, and stressful night.

Five minute later everyone apart from Garcia regrouped. Rossi kicked off the conversation. "So why go after JJ?"

Reid had an answer for that "she's blonde and beautiful. Why not?"

"True Boy Genius. But, what about the unsubs' type?"

"That's true. In the past their preferred type has been a mixture of blond/ brown haired females with brown/ blond eyes."

"Yeah. JJ fits perfectly."

"Yes. However, we know that at least one of them has uh, had 'experience' with her. Therefore at least one of them must want her back because they either felt that they didn't have long enough, or because they want that time again."

"Yes Morgan. And also remember, the blond haired victims were never kept as long as the brunette, brown eyed victims."

A deafening silence filled the room as they all thought about what that meant.

They had less time to catch the killers and save JJ then they would like.

"Right. Well any victims that hadn't been the perfect combination were dumped anywhere from the next day to a few days later."

"That means that JJ might not have much time."

"That's right Rossi. But also, what will happen to her? We hadn't seen anywhere near as much violence until Emily. Because JJ is an FBI Agent are they going to be more brutal with her too?"

"Well, considering the fact that they sought her out, I think that we at least have a few days. As for the violence, I'd say to expect the same or worse then what was done to Emily. Depending on when we finally catch the guys. But if they specifically wanted her then she should be safe for now right?"

"I think it is safe to say that Hotch. But back to that. Why would they choose to take her? Why not go back after Emily? She was the one that was a much closer fit to the 'ideal' victim type."

"Yes, but what if the victim type wasn't just because one of them liked that."

"What do you mean Reid?"

"Well, clearly these two have a relatively strong relationship. They have had numerous victims, with varying features. What if one of them prefers blue eyed blondes and the other brown eyed brunettes."

"That's a good point. But why have only the brown eyed brunettes been taken for an extended period of time?"

"Maybe because that is what the dominant prefers and keeps them longer to enjoy them?"

"Yes, but then why was Emily dumped? She fits the victimology."

"Except that she said the guy went kind of crazy before strangling her and dumping her. He couldn't assault her like the others because she wasn't perfect." Morgan added.

"Could that mean that they dumped her rather than killing her because she is with the FBI and it would be better for them if they were caught?"

"No. I don't think so. I mean…" Reid paused. "What if the choice wasn't made by both unsubs to dump her. What if it was only one?"

"I see. And so you think that possibly one went behind the others back and dumped Emily which could have caused a rift in the relationship therefore the other one now is getting their selected type as some sort of an apology for dumping her?"

"I'd say so Morgan. Now the question is, who is the dominant?"

"Well, Emily said that the larger of the two was the one who had most of the dealings with her. The other one took on a background role. That is most likely the submissive simply doing whatever the other one says. So then does that mean that the smaller unsubs role is the submissive and his type is blonde haired women with blue eyes. Therefore, JJ was an 'I'm sorry for screwing up here's your turn' kidnapping?"

"At the moment that is how it seems. Remember that she was assaulted in the hotel room that night."

"Yeah, but why is that important?"

"Well, what if it is a case that JJ originally fitted the type. They couldn't take Prentiss and Jareau. They took Prentiss and now the unsub that didn't get the one he wanted is pissed. He has fixated on JJ and taken her because she is now the object of his desire, not just a woman that fits his usual type."

"Right, well that would mean we will have more time, right?"

"Possibly. Or it'll be too exciting for them and they will do everything they want in rapid succession, not giving us the time that we need."

"These are all possible options."

The conversation was followed by another silence. Each agent took the time to consider what happened to Emily. Then to think about what had already happened to JJ.

Next they thought about their individual struggles.

The demons that they had battled against and won. Or the battles they were still fighting every day.

No. Nobody said it would be easy. But with support they made it, or they were making it.

All they needed to do was get JJ back so that she had the chance to fight her battles, and get back to a semblance of normal like they had all had the opportunity to do.

Hotch had been thankful for the silence. But they had a job to do. However, he realised that everyone was different. He stood up as silently as possible and was about to leave the room when all heads turned to face him. He gave a nod, allowing them more time to decompress before he went in search of the technical analyst to see if she had anything.

"Hey Garcia. What have you got?" he asked as he stepped into the doorway.

One loud shriek, a cup of coffee tipping over and the sound of a computer dying later, a very angry computer analyst turned around.

Immediately Hotch regretted leaving the room.

"HOTCH! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?! LOOK WHAT HAPPENED!"

"I take it that will be a no on anything with the plate?"

"Yes, you're right that'd be a no."

"Right."

Hotch walked over to aid Garcia in the clean-up but before he could do anything she made a defensive position in front of him.

"Can't I help Garcia?"

"Yes. You can go get that lovely Detective. Get her and her techy friends to urgently bring me new computers. More than one in case there is another coffee incident." Her face mellowed "then, Boss Man, get back to doing what you do best. Get our girl back, and I will let you know as soon as I have anything."

With a nod, Hotch left the room slightly deflated, in search of the helpful detective.

Hotch made his way back to the rest of the team to find them still sitting in a comforting silence.

Before Hotch had the opportunity to bring them back to reality himself, Detective Smith scurried into the conference room. After she had successfully received the teams' attention, she made her announcement.

"There is a woman here who says her son is missing. I think you'll be interested in this one."


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15. So this is where things start happening. Thank you to the reviewers ( : You guys made me smile. **

"Detective Smith, I am sure that you'll und…"

"Agent Hotchner, the reason I am bringing this to you is because this is not any ordinary boy that has gone missing."

"Okay then."

At this point the entire team was intrigued.

"It is Mrs Malcom's son Jake."

"Jake… right! The boy that has extra needs due to the car accident. The one that Emily was adamant be checked out thoroughly."

"Yes, that one. His mother is here right now. She is saying that he has not come home, and that it is far, far later than any other time. Apparently if he was going to be home a lot later he would normally call her at from the group he attends but she has had no call."

"I see. We'll be right out."

Hotch turned around to face the rest of the group. Before he could speak Rossi did "So, uh, anyone else thinking this is odd?"

"You better believe it." Morgan announced.

Morgan accompanied Hotch to go and speak with the highly distraught mother.

"Mrs Malcom, I have been told that you believe that your son is missing."

"YES! And I don't _believe _anything. I know he is missing. Oh gosh something bad must have happened to him."

"Mrs Malcom please calm down. If your son is missing we'll find him. But you'll need to answer some questions."

"Stop saying _if _and _believe_! I _know_ that he is missing."

"Yes Ma'am, right this way."

Hotch and Morgan led her to an empty room in which they could conduct the interview to ascertain what the situation really was.

When they sat down, both agents had noticed that she was fidgeting a lot and that she was crying. It appeared as though she was genuinely terrified at the prospect of her son not having returned home.

"Mrs Malcom we are just going to ask you a few questions."

"What makes you believe that your son is missing?" Morgan asked.

"It is far too late. If he is going to be late then he calls me. He lets me know. He doesn't like it when I worry."

"I see. And how often is it that he returns late?"

"Not a lot. Well, more so now than in the past."

She sat thinking.

"Well, due to the after school program he is in. It gives me time away to get stuff done and gives him a bit of independence."

"I see. And he enjoys it?"

"Oh yes. Loves it."

"So what about his personal life? Any new friends?"

"No. Not really. Only that girl across the street. But, that obviously isn't… I mean, after what happened…"

"Yes Mrs Malcom, I see."

"Do you believe that your son is missing, maybe could have wandered off? Or do you think that he could possibly have been kidnapped?"

"Oh gosh, I, I…"

"Mrs Malcom, it is important that you think hard about this."

"I know. I am. Trust me. This is my son."

A silence filled the room as her brained ticked thinking of any possibilities.

"No. Nothing. He does the exact same thing every day. School, program, experience sometimes, then home."

"Experience? What's that?"

"It's- OH GOSH… no."

"What is it?"

"About six months ago, the after school program he goes to started doing work experience for people who are older so that they can get out into the work force when they can no longer attend school."

"I see." Hotch looked at Morgan.

Both excused themselves and left the room. They met up outside with the other men who had been watching.

"Work experience? Garcia didn't say anything about that being a part of any of her searches."

"Right. I think that we need to have her look further into this."

Garcia meanwhile, continued her searches. Relatively quickly she had something to go on.

Immediately she called the team together as she needed to tell them something urgently.

She told them the amount of people that fitted the description given, which was a lot. She also then cross referenced that with the van – the colour, model and partial plate.

Garcia with her natural flair made it an art as she talked to them. But she was more than a little excited when she told them that there were only six people that fitted perfectly having either siblings or others close relatives.

"… and so I have the addresses and I can send them to your phones now so that you can go and bring our precious agent home."

The team were glad for something, however weren't willing to leave the station before having her check further into Jake.

"Garcia. What you have is amazing. But first I need you to do something else. Do you remember Jake?"

"The special boy?"

"Yes. It appears that he is missing. However, we aren't quite convinced. He could possibly be the link we are missing. Can you please check further into his back ground? Specifically the place that he did work experience at?"

"On it boss."

Five minutes later she came back to him.

"Boss. I have it. Max Hufton. He is a socially inept mid twenty year old that has a history of violence and no further education other than high school."

"That's good… Right Garcia?" He had seen her face and the slightly glum expression on it.

"Well, it should be. Apart from the fact that he has no close relatives. No one with whom he would have a close enough relationship with in order to carry out such murders."

"No one at all? No school friends or anything?"

"No one. It is like he has been completely off the grid. It is crazy. The only contact he appears to have had as of late is that with the program instructor inquiring into a placement for Jake and then the interaction with the boy himself."

"Okay. Thanks Garcia. Keep searching, see if you can pull up any links that would unite these two further back in their history."

At that, she was off. Hotch turned to his people and asked them "what do you think we are missing?"

"Hmmm. Well if Max Hufton is one of our unsubs he would be the dominant one. But looking at the M.O why would he dress people in clothes from the 80's, cut their hair short and assault some of them before dumping them? Not only that, why would he focus on the church?"

"The church. That is what really sticks out for me."

Before another words could be uttered Garcia came rushing into the room.

"GUYS! Guys, guys, guys, guys, guys, guys, guys!"

"What Pen?"

"I have something!"

They all smiled their first genuine smile after what had been a long, long day.

"We got that Garcia, what is it?"

"HE'S ADOPTED!"

"Who's adopted?"

"Jake! Jake's adopted!"

"Oh my gosh." Reid exclaimed. "Garcia, how was the adoption handled?"

Garcia quickly flipped through the information in front of her.

"It was handled through a local church, the… OH MY…"

"The same church that is the centre of our unsubs comfort zone?"

"Yes that one."

Rossi started "Well, we now know why the church is so important if Hufton is indeed our unsub. It is because of Jake."

"But why would he care?"

Garcia had been typing away furiously. As quick as she could she skimmed through the information.

She couldn't contain it. She couldn't hold it in. "THEY'RE BROTHERS!"

The men in the room all had a momentary look of surprise before a look that showed they realised that fitted. And before Hotch or any other member of the team could say anything else, Garcia also told them "and their mother had brown hair and brown eyes. It all fits!"

"That is great, thank you Garcia. Also, what type of shop does Max Hufton own? What does he do for a living?"

"Well, it appears that he is a handy man on the cheaper side. No proper qualifications, but will fix things for people that visit his shop when necessary. And the shop is… ooh. It is an odds and sods shop. You know, brick a brack. Bits and pieces that nobody wants that he can sell to others in amongst an array of household tools that a handyman would use."

"Okay great. Do you know what time his shop hours are?"

"Yes it appears that he closes at five. But it is possible that he stays later, may even live there. What I can find about the building online is that there is a… oh, my poor babies. There is a basement. Relatively large, probably the perfect place to hide the girls. It appears as though two years ago he got all the permissions he needed to sound proof. Claimed that he was going to do further study so that he could become a builder or a craftsman. Claimed that he wanted to set up a work shop and needed it sound proof so that he didn't annoy the neighbours."

"I see. Okay, Garcia. Before we head off can you please print off his picture? I want Jake's mother to confirm that this is the man that Jake has been spending time with, and ask why she didn't mention it."

Garcia printed out the photo and handed it to Hotch. With t in hand, he headed back into the room that Mrs Malcom was in.

"Mrs Malcom, I have a photo that I need to show you and a couple more questions. Do you recognise this man?" he held up the photo. He watched her pupils expand and the tears start to fall.

"Yes, yes that's the man Jake has been working with."

"Right, I understand. Also, why was it that you didn't mention that Jake was adopted?"

"I didn't see the reason. He has always, and will always be my son."

"Okay. And why didn't you mention that he does this 'experience' training?"

"It's a part of the after school program, I presumed you already knew."

"Okay and one last question, did you have any idea that Max Hufton, the man that your son has been working with is his brother? It appears that their birth mother kept Max then had Jake but didn't want both of them, so gave Jake up."

Mrs Malcom became highly agitated and stared straight at Hotchner "Are you serious? Of course I didn't know. I wouldn't have let them have contact if I had known."

"And why is that?"

"Jake's birth mother had a problem with drugs and alcohol. Max was born before her life turned sour. I was told that she couldn't handle caring for more than one child. The first was in and out of foster care, and after some convincing, she decided to give the second baby up so it could have a good life. That woman should not have been allowed to keep the first child either. She had abusive boyfriends that would take it out on him as well. That is no environment for any child to grow up in. It would have had to affect his life growing up, and as such, with Jake being such a vulnerable person, I would never have allowed contact."

"Okay. Thank you Mrs Malcom. That has helped us a lot. We will do our best to bring your son home to you."

"Thank you Agent Hotchner."

Hotch exited the room ad met up with the rest of his team.

"So, what do you guys think?"

Reid was first "I think that Max somehow found out that Jake was his brother and therefore was only too happy to have him working one on one with him."

"That's right. I called up the program instructor and he told me that Max actually went to him about helping Jake out with a placement." Morgan told the group.

Rossi added "So, we think that Max engineered this so that he could get to spend time with Jake and use his mental capacity as a way of talking him into, or tricking him into help Max to commit these crimes and then be able to get away with it?"

"At the moment, that is how it appears."

"Okay. Garcia, I presume that you have sent this address to our GPS's in the cars."

Hotch turned around to see Detective Smith standing behind him "Detective, I need you and your locals to follow us. We may be heading to a confrontation at the unsubs shop and we will require your assistance. We need to gather everyone so I can make the announcement."

"Yes Sir."

Immediately, even at the late hour, the precinct was alive and buzzing as every cop who was not busy made their way to the large debriefing room to hear what their roles would be."

"Hello Officers. As some of you may know I am Agent Hotchner and I am here with the BAU. We believe that we have found the shop in which the unsubs are using to torture their victims before dumping them. You must be aware that the person we believe to be the dominant is Max Hufton. He has a history of violence and will attempt to hurt any of you when he is threatened. Also, we believe his partner is Jake Malcom. Some of you may be aware that he has a diminished mental capacity. As such, do not hurt him, nor his their current victim, Agent Jennifer Jareau. My team will take the lead and we require you there as back-up."

Every law enforcement officer nodded as they stood.

"And Officers, be careful."

Every person their way to the vehicles. They took off at a fast pace, with no sirens, however lights were flashing.

Agents Hotchner, Reid, Rossi and Morgan sat in their separate vehicles and prayed that this would be the end. The end of what had been a nightmare case. They also prayed that it would be a happy ending. An ending in which they didn't have to bury a valued agent and family member.


	16. Chapter 16

**Thank you for the reviews. I haven't written the next chapter yet, but thought I should post one. I'm in the middle of exams. Will try update soon. **

**16**

The police officers arrived minutes before Hotch and the rest of the BAU team. They set up a perimeter as to make sure to keep the general public away. Concerned neighbours however, had come out in full force and were eagerly trying to find out what was going on. It was only at the complete insistence of the officers, and the knowledge that there could be gunfire that the civilians made their way back to their homes, to lock up the house in an attempt to keep their families safe. It didn't however, deter them from peering through the windows in an attempt to catch a glimpse of the action.

As the FBI Agents made their way towards the shop doors, they made last minutes alterations to their Kevlar for maximum protection.

Like the stealthy agents they were, they entered the premises and cleared the entirety of the shop that was on ground level. Feeling slightly anxious at the prospect of a situation in which the lead unsub could use the boy and JJ to his advantage, the agents carefully opened the door that lead to the basement.

One by one they went down silently. Guns were drawn, and due to the dark, they were required to use torches. The agents moved in unison, ears alert, listening for any sound.

They reached the bottom and found a short hallway with four rooms that branched off of it. They moved forwards, and in turns took the opportunity they had to clear each of the rooms. Three rooms down there was only one to go.

As the team had cleared each room they had a sickening feeling in their stomach which grew immensely as the contents of each room were revealed. There were various items like bloodied sheets, ropes, and other small tools that appeared to have been broken. Nobody wanted to think about the likely reason that they had been broken.

What made it harder was that there was various recording equipment, as well as DVD's. With a quick glance, the agents knew that the DVD's contained video footage of what had been done to the victims. Each disc had a name on it, and they were almost certain that there would be one with Emily's name on it.

But they couldn't think about that now, they had to think of the task ahead of them.

On the count of three they entered the last room to see a man packing up different equipment as well as giving the place a bit of a clean. It was clear that he had not heard them enter, and therefore they had time to give the place a quick scan. All were dismayed when they saw no one else in the room.

What could he have done with them? Where could they be?

"Freeze Max Hufton." Hotch announced.

Seconds flew by as the four men had their guns pointed at a suspect who was clearly agitated. He refused to go with them without a fight. Before they knew it, guns were ready to fire, and likely would have, apart from the fact that the only weapon he had was a chair.

Though the man was well built, Morgan was easily able to overpower him and he quickly had him on the ground and in handcuffs.

Morgan told the guys that he would take Hufton upstairs and wait until they had had a look at the crime scene before they all left so that they could question him.

Reid, Rossi and Hotch looked around the room. It was dark, damp and cold. No windows meant that no light could get in, and the air was not crisp like outside. It was stale.

They could see rows of tools that could easily have been used as weapons. Upon closer inspection they saw that some had blood smeared on them. There was still a rope over a ceiling beam that was attached to the wall at one end.

It wasn't an elaborate set up, but anyone that was dropped from varying heights like Emily was would surely be in pain afterward.

The bed was something that stuck out.

Ropes attached to the foot and head of the bed were bloodied, and they had little bits of flesh from where the victims had obviously been rubbing in an attempt to get free.

The bloodied ropes matched the bloodied bed sheets. There was also mould starting to appear near the edges which showed that they weren't washed very often, if at all.

The three agents had seen enough, and released the scene to the crime scene techs to see if they could get anything.

Once upstairs they regrouped.

"So, not the result we were all hoping for."

"Hell no. No way."

"We need to get back to the station and question him. Hopefully that way we will figure out where Jake and JJ are."

The agents headed off with the suspect in the back, hoping that he would lead them to their girl.

At the hospital Emily was going stir crazy. She was in pain, she had to concede, but she couldn't take sitting around anymore.

She needed to find out what was going on.

Emily called in the local cops and asked them for the run down on the case.

They had been made aware that a suspect was in custody, and when she asked if Agent Jareau was found, the look on their faces confirmed her fear.

If JJ was not there, and only one suspect was found, that meant that she was stuck with the other delusional unsub that could hurt her.

Emily's head was spinning as she was deciding what to do.

Then she had it.

Prentiss knew that there was no way that the cops nor the doctors would let her leave. Therefore, she was going to have to do it of her own accord.

It was late, and in this part of the hospital there were very few staff members, due to understaffing. Emily banished the locals and used her phone to call a taxi. It would be waiting for her outside the hospital in 15 minutes. That was all the time she had. But she could make it work.

For whatever reason there was a lock on the outside of the bathroom door. She didn't mind but she knew that she could use it.

She decided to play the sympathy vote. She was thankful she had the all clear to have bathroom privileges.

After asking the officers to come back in because she required their assistance to walk to the bathroom, she quickly made herself busy. She explained the need for her go-bag as being due to 'girl problems'. The officers blushed and left her to it. But before she locked herself away, she pleaded with puppy dog eyes for one of them to go and get her coffee.

Begrudgingly the eldest obliged, making the journey down to the ground floor where the cafeteria was. That left the rookie. The gullible one who could easily be fooled.

As Emily finished putting her casual clothes on that could easily be concealed under the hospital gown she moved her go-bag as far into the bathroom as possible. Then she opened the door to see the fresh face. The guy was sweet, so she felt sort of bad. She feigned forgetting her go-bag, and said she could support herself while he retrieved it for her.

That was when she took the opportunity to shut the door behind him, using the lock to keep him in there. For extra time, she also put a chair in front of the door. Not really sure how long it would hold, she pulled out the lines that she had been attached to and ripped off the gown. Stealthily she headed to the elevator and acted calm and collected. Glancing down at her watch she saw 12 minutes had passed. Perfect timing.

The FBI SUV's pulled up outside the police station and the agents headed inside with Hufton. Rossi and Hotch took the lead and headed with him to be processed ready for interrogation.

Reid and Rossi went to fill Garcia in.

She was full of despair as she heard the news. Morgan had to comfort her, holding her close and by telling her everything would be all right.

They pulled apart and began to head towards the room where the interview was to be conducted when a sight made Garcia stop.

She turned, and faced the doors, thinking she was so tired she was seeing things. But she soon realised she wasn't. Penelope nudged the other two, and as soon as they saw, their jaws also dropped.

A weary looking Emily had just entered through the front doors of the police department. It was clear that she was struggling, so Morgan made a dash towards her, scrambling to help steady her, before walking her towards the closest chair so that she could sit. That was when Garcia took over "EMILY ELIZABETH PRENTISS! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

Before she could answer she was stopped by Derek asking "and HOW did you get here? I swear, if the locals brought you, they won't be receiving a happy word from Hotch."

Emily smiled and responded "No they didn't. I used the old Prentiss charm and got one to get me coffee, then locked the rookie in the bathroom. I still feel kinda bad. And I got a taxi."

Penelope spoke first "Right. Well that answers my stud muffin's question but not mine. So go on then, tell us."

Emily nervously bit her lip. She was definitely starting to feel the pain a lot more now that she didn't have medications running through her. Also she could swear that her back was on fire. But she pushed through. "I heard that you have one of the unsubs. I figured that I could try to confirm his build or his voice. You know help the investigation out. Help get JJ back. I can't just spend the whole time sitting on my backside doing nothing."

Reid got in next "Emily. You aren't meant to be here. One, you are very badly hurt, you only just had surgery for pete's sake. You were beaten and you must be in immense pain. You have major injuries." He bent down in front of her, to allow better eye contact. He also placed a hand on top of her good one and told her "I know why you are here. We all do. But Emily, you need to rest. You need to get better, because after this JJ will be hurting and she is going to need you. I know you. I know you feel this is your fault, even though everyone knows that it is not. JJ wanted to protect you. But she will need someone who gets it to help. She will need you, and you can't be there if you aren't well yourself. You and JJ will have everyone on this team for support. But don't add to your recovery time by making stupid decisions now. You know and I know that you are too smart for that. I know you believe in this team. So believe that we will get JJ back. And just take this time to sit on your backside doing nothing." He added at the end to lighten the mood.

Emily nodded knowing that he was right. But she also couldn't leave the building without first knowing what they got from Max Hufton.

After a bit of pleading, and then flat out refusing to leave without knowing, the four people made their way towards the interview room. Reid and Morgan were on each side of Emily, with Penelope opening all the doors for them. Both men looked at each other as they felt Emily quickly become tired. Her body had taken a beating and was obviously letting her know just how much rehab would be in store for her. The duo sat her down on a chair that Garcia had scampered to get just as the interview was drawing to a close.

Inside the interview room Rossi and Hotch had been playing good cop versus bad cop. At this stage it didn't seem to be working. He would not answer any of their questions. Simply looked at his hands and looked at the one way mirror.

Quickly the seasoned profilers became very annoyed. They threw in questions about his past. Told him about the families of the victims he had killed and how they were distraught and had much grief. Stories of parents losing their child, trying to see if there was any sympathy deep, deep down. But there was nothing. He was cold. Turned off from the world.

It had been 30 minutes of constant talking at Max Hufton before anything came to light.

Hotch and Rossi began talking about Jake. About how their mother had wanted to give him a better life, but not Max. How she allowed him to be beaten and hurt by her boyfriends. This caused anger, which they knew it would. They were glad that they had finally elicited some sort of reaction. It was Jake and their mother that was a stressor for him.

Once the dam began to crack, the crack kept getting bigger and bigger. With everything they knew about the brothers, they could finally start to get somewhere.

However, it all went south when they started talking about Jake, making him a victim. Hufton raged.

After being made to calm down, he finally spoke. But not with the wear-abouts of JJ or Jake. He only asked questions.

"Agent Hotchner, have you looked into Jake's medical file? Seen the reason for his mental impairment? Also, have you looked into the neighbourhood that he lived in before the accident? Go on, I dare you. And one last thing Agent Hotchner, are you dumb? Honestly, _agent. _Look at everything again, and tell me whether or not you are dumb. Then I might answer a question or two."

**So, I don't know how realistic Prentiss getting out of the hospital was. She is a pretty tough person, so I wouldn't put it past her. Also, yes, Max was caught, and the reason will be known pretty shortly. ( : I will hopefully write the next chapter and get it up soon. I just need motivation. Exams suck and school isn't much better. **


	17. Chapter 17

**Hey guys. Thanks to Jareau37 and sweet-flight16 for the reviews (: They made me happy. This has been a difficult chapter to write. As much as the next one is set to be. It is not a happy chapter.**

**17**

JJ started to stir from unconsciousness. She could feel that she was no longer on the harsh floor of the van, but now she was somewhere new. She was hesitant to open her eyes, because she didn't know what awaited her when she did. Keeping them shut she began to get her bearings. Stretching her legs, she could tell that they were not tied. That was when she became aware of the soreness of her wrists. And also the fact that they were tied above her head.

Before she had the time to do anything else she heard a voice. "Hello Agent Jareau. There is no point in keeping your eyes closed."

JJ snapped them open and was met with two pairs of eyes staring at her. Straight away she realised she was in a whole lot of trouble. She could see the men. But what stuck out was that they were not wearing masks. That was bad. That was really, really bad. That meant that they did not care if she saw their faces. And it also made the likeliness that she would get out of this unscathed a whole lot smaller.

Gulping slightly she continued to look at the men who had a devilish glint in their eyes. She was in for trouble. Now her only hope was that her team was good enough to find her. She believed in them wholly. But this case quite a few times had thrown them.

Staring blankly at the males, her foggy mind put two and two together. The man that was larger appeared to be the one who the team had thought of as the dominant. But the smaller one. She recognised him. Somehow… but how?

After a few more moments of wracking her brain she had it. It was Jake. The boy that Emily was so intent on keeping an eye on. She was right! She was so right! But no. He was cleared. No! They had nothing to go on. How could that have happened? Was she really going to die here? Would the team realise in time? And what would happen to her?

Oh Gosh. All of the images of all of the terrible things that had been done to the other victims came to her mind. No. That couldn't happen to her. She couldn't be a victim. She couldn't die. And then she thought of Emily. Emily was an agent and she got it much worse. Could that mean worse for her as well? Emily was so much stronger than she was. What if she couldn't take the pain, the violation?

Her whole life was spent helping and counselling families who had lost loved ones. She was the best at showing empathy. The profilers found it hard, and she could understand, but all she was thinking as who would console her family? They would never forgive themselves if she died.

Guilt flowed through her. Was she stupid to have gone before telling them? No. She wasn't. She was doing the best that she could by Emily. There was no was that she could let her get hurt yet again because of her. Emily was hurt so bad. It was only right that she was protected.

JJ was suddenly ripped away from her thoughts as she felt the big guy start untying her hands. If there was any chance, it was now. As soon as her wrists were undone, she punched him, and made to get up, but came crashing back down to the floor as a sharp kick to her the back of her knee sent it buckling beneath her.

She knew she was screwed for the meantime. Pain made itself known, and she tried her best not to move protecting the injured limb. This act however, was in vain as a pair of coarse hands grabbed at her. She managed to avoid them the first time, but as they came back towards her it was no use. One had a firm grip on her left arm, pinning it behind her back and the other held her midsection and half carried and half dragged her towards a waiting chair.

'A chair.' She thought 'How original.'

As he threw her upon it, in a last ditch, she kicked out, but received a rough punch to the chest which made all the air leave her body and she began gasping to regain it.

By the time that she was finally able to get air into her lungs, she had ropes binding both her arms and her legs to the chair making it impossible for her to move.

She became resentful and refused to look at her captors.

Jake enjoyed her being so defenceless. It made the next part of his action plan even sweeter. He didn't really care how Max felt. He was just the muscle and the fall guy, so that if any of this went south he had a person to blame.

Standing back, and looking at the blonde beauty before him, Jake became so excited that he hardened on the spot. But no. It was not time for that now. He had to break her first. And this time he got to do it. He got to do everything. He was no longer the planner, who sat back and idly watched as his big brother got all the fun. No, it was his time to shine. And he got to shine with the person who he had fallen for back in that hotel room.

Barely containing his joy, he moved towards her. He moved a piece of blond hair out of her eyes, and jumped back slightly as JJ threw her head towards his hand biting.

"Oooh. Feisty. I am liking this. But, I don't think that there is a need for so much clothing, do you? I mean, we are going to be very, very close by the end of this."

He turned around and looked at his brother who shrugged. Max didn't really care. He was at the point now where he didn't really want to keep killing people. He had his fun, and that was good. Now he was linked in because of Jake who held the murders over his head. He just wanted Jake to finish with the Agent so that he could be done with it. He had to admit though, she was pretty, even though she wasn't his type.

Jake looked at his brother and the two silently communicated through hand signals as well as through eye flicks and blinks.

They certainly had a communication system set up. And it baffled Jennifer. Wasn't this boy supposed to be mentally impaired? Incapable of looking after himself?

She couldn't quite figure this out. Why were the two working together? What type of relationship did they have? And most of all, why the hell would a killer work with a special boy, letting him help with the murders. It didn't make any sense. Did it?

JJ's thoughts were then cut off by Jake walking towards her with a knife.

"Agent, may I call you JJ?" no reply. "I'll take that as a yes then."

He moved behind her.

"Now you see JJ, with every murder my brother has been the one having all the fun. The torture, the rape, every single bit of it. But now it's my turn. I've had my eye on you since the hotel room."

Using his hands he ran his fingers through her hair, removing all the knots, before allowing it to flow over one shoulder. He made use of her bare shoulder and set sloppy kisses along it. Just like he had seen Max do. When she moved her head over to try and stop him, he forcefully grabbed it and held it down, so that he could continue perusing up to her neck.

When he found a pulse point he settled and began to suck and bite, in the hopes of leaving a large red love bite. When he removed his face he was not disappointed.

As JJ had been feeling his lips on her skin, she didn't react. But as he found her pulse point, she wanted to throw him across the room. This is usually something that she would find attractive in a man. Now next time a man decides to do this, she thinks that she would have to stop him. Well, if there was a next time.

As Jake moved away, he was readying himself. He arrived back with a larger knife in hand. He saw her eyes grow wide, and he smiled.

Slowly he moved closer to her. Once he was stood in front of her, he decided what his next move would be. Jake bent his knees, ending up in a crouch position in front of her.

He took the knife in one hand, and ran it up the inside seam of her pants. As he got higher, he elicited a shiver from her which only egged him on. He kept going until he reached the highest point, stopping for a while allowing it to hover, then the knife continued on its journey down her other leg.

What came next she wasn't expecting. In a sudden rage, Jake took the knife, and stabbed in through her pant material. The material was thin, and it sunk a good way into her thigh. She let out a yelp, but nothing else, as he dragged down her leg effectively splitting the material given him full view of the entire length of her leg.

She thought that the first time was bad, but the second time was worse as he used more force on her other side, making a deep, angry gash the entire length of her leg. This time she couldn't help but yell out in pain. Jake smiled and pulled at the material until it ripped off, leaving her legs exposed.

It was cold in the barn, and goose bumps were already forming on her legs.

Jake leant down and began to kiss his way up the deep cut, allowing the blood to stain his lips. As he got higher, JJ grabbed his ear with her fingers and pulled hard.

This only served to make him angry, and he bolted upright, tearing his ear from her hand. He looked at her, and then at her hand. He chose a finger, and grabbed a hold of it before again looking at her face. He used all of his might to painfully twist it until he heard a snap. The snap that signified the breaking of bones.

As a pained expression covered her face, he smiled. This was before making a fist with his hand and punching her with all of his might, making stars cloud her vision, before she slumped, clearly leaving the land of the conscious.

All in all, Jake was happy so far. He looked at the myriad of tools before him as he thought about which ones to use. He had to make her weak before he used the bed at the back of the barn for what he intended.

Telling his brother to pull up the chairs, the pair sat down in front of her, willing her to wake up.

It was not long before his wish was granted, as she began to stir once again, she realised that her head was pounding.

Looking up, she saw the men talking, and caught the last line of the conversation.

"Max, go to the shop. Pack up some of the good stuff and bring it here. Clean it up, scrub everything down. This is our new base, and I like JJ so much, I think that I am going to have to extend the amount of time I keep her for."

And that was when it clicked. They had all been so stupid. Jake wasn't mentally impaired. He was using the car accident to his advantage so that he could commit murder. She watched as Max nodded before sauntering off. It was Jake the whole time. Jake. Damn it. She hoped that the guys were on the verge of getting this.

As Max exited, Jake turned around and grinned a sadistic smile. "Well JJ. I see you're ready for round two." He told her as he wiped some of the blood that she hadn't noticed from her cheek.

She watched as he walked away and came back with a taser, a hammer, nails, a baseball bat and the knife that he had used before, which appeared to have dried blood on it. Her dried blood.

"Now JJ, where would you like to begin?"

She didn't respond and he decided for them. He skimmed over all the objects, landing on the baseball bat, grinning again as he picked it up.

**So a cliff hanger. What's going to happen to JJ? Reviews make me get the warm fuzzies. Please review and I'll get the next chapter up ASAP.**


End file.
